Borna Coric, who won the ATP Cincinnati Masters on Sunday by dominating fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, barely made his comeback in March after missing a year due to a shoulder injury.
In order to become the lowest-ranked player to ever win a Masters trophy. The 152nd-ranked player in the world from Croatia defeated the Greek great 7-6 (7/0), 6-2.
Coric lost the only final he had ever played in at this level, to Novak Djokovic in Shanghai four years prior.
The 1996 Hamburg champion Roberto Carretero, who was ranked 143rd, was supplanted by Coric on Sunday as the lowest-ranked Masters champion.
Coric’s reaction to his win, “This is unbelievable. I thought I would lose in the first round.”
How Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Borna Coric unfolded?
Both players exchanged icy glares over the net as they fought to a tie-break in a match that had a heated atmosphere that only grew as the first set stakes rose. Tsitsipas started the match with a double fault and collapsed after that as Coric dominated the tiebreaker with a score of 7-0 to take the opening set.
As he delivered a tenacious hold from 0-40 to take the lead on the scoreboard at the very beginning of Set 2. Coric continued to display the more concentrated and determined appearance of the two players.
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In Game 4, the Croatian saw three break points blocked, but he finally received payback when Tsitsipas double flubbed, giving him a 4-2 advantage.
The Greek, who is now ranked fifth, fought valiantly in the subsequent match, coming back from a 40-0 deficit to put Coric’s nerve to the test in a protracted face-off at deuce. The underdog, though, stayed unfazed and triumphed. Then broke again on his second match point to secure the biggest victory of his career.
Coric comments on his eventful win
“This has been a very good tournament for me. I always enjoy coming back here. I had to watch on television the last two years and I wasn’t happy about that.”
Coric stated, “I really can’t realize what has happened. It was a very, very tough match.
“At the start I was not playing well and he was pushing me hard. I slowly started serving better and fighting hard.”
Tsitsipas in the Trophy ceremony of Cincinnati Open
“You’ve kicked my ass the last couple of times,” Tsitsipas said to Coric in the trophy ceremony.
Then he lauded Coric’s Cincinnati triumph run, which saw him defeat Rafael Nadal, Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, and Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada.
“You’ve proved yourself over and over again,” Tsitsipas said. “It was an incredible comeback from injury. You are proving that you are up there with us.”
“It kind of sucks,” the Greek said. “I still hope to come back here and win it one day.
” I was definitely not choking — I just played robots every time in finals.”
Due to surgery on his right shoulder, Coric played in just nine matches in 2021. Up until last week, when he defeated 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal, Coric’s season has been generally lacklustre.
Soon after the award ceremony was ended, ominous skies let loose rain on the region. The Midwest event, the final significant warm-up for the US Open. Which starts on August 29, was plagued by storm delays for a large portion of the week.
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