Coric advances at Cincinnati Masters, qualifying action wraps up

On a rain-soaked Sunday at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, it was 19-year-old Croatian Borna Coric who claimed the only first-round, main-draw win at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. The Croat won a back-and-forth affair against mercurial Frenchman Benoit Paire 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 after one hour and 26 minutes.

Following a poor opening set from Coric, he came out an inspired man the second. The world No. 49 tracked down enough balls to frustrate a streaky Paire and force a decisive frame of play. That is when 26 percent serving and five double-faults doomed the Frenchman, whose total serving numbers for the whole match finished at 37 percent serving with nine doubles.

As for the qualifying rounds, Sunday proved to be a disappointment for the American contingent. Stefan Kozlov, 18, fell to Tunisian Malek Jaziri 6-4, 6-2 and veteran Brian Baker bowed out to Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 6-1, 6-4. Kozlov was playing his second match of the day, having previously finished off a rain-delayed contest against Damir Dzumhur 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

Joining Jaziri and Youzhny in the main draw were Jiri Vesely, Yuichi Sugita, John Millman, Mischa Zverev, and Nikolaz Basilashvilli. Zverev squared off against Adrian Mannarino in a third consecutive event (also in Atlanta and Los Cabos), with the German improving to 2-1 in those matches by prevailing 7-6(4), 7-5.

On Monday the Cincinnati fans will—weather permitting—see David Ferrer and Nick Kyrgios begin their Cincinnati campaigns. Ferrer is up first on Center Court against Julien Benneteau; Kyrgios is taking on another Frenchman, Lucas Pouille, in the nightcap.

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