Chennai Open: Coric to meet Wawrinka in final

The 19-year-old Coric is the youngest player in the top 50 of the current world rankings and has been touted as a future star. The Men’s singles draw was not as kind to him as he would’ve hoped for, but he has battled his way to the final.

Published : Jan 09, 2016 23:37 IST , Chennai

Borna Coric is delighted after reaching the Chennai Open final.
Borna Coric is delighted after reaching the Chennai Open final.
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Borna Coric is delighted after reaching the Chennai Open final.

Eighth seed Borna Coric showed why he is regarded as one of the hottest young prospects in tennis today by reaching his first ATP 250 final defeating Aljaz Bedene 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 at the 2016 Aircel Chennai Open.

The 19-year-old Coric is the youngest player in the top 50 of the current world rankings and has been touted as a future star. The Men’s singles draw was not as kind to him as he would’ve hoped for, but he has battled his way to the final endearing himself to the Chennai crowd in the process.

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Both players started brightly in the opening set, matching each other serve by serve, stroke by stroke. Coric broke Bedene at 2-2 but was immediately broken back by the 26-year-old Slovenian born Brit. The set went into a tie-breaker with Coric breaking Bedene’s serve to take a 5-2 lead and eventually clinching the set 7-6(5).

The second set was eerily identical to the first with neither semi-finalist coming out on top and forcing another tie-breaker. It was last year’s losing finalist Bedene who came out on top this time as he levelled the match with 7-6(5) win.

With the third-set tied at 3-3, Coric asked for a medical time-out. The physio seemed to have worked some magic as the Croatian looked rejuvenated and broke Bedene’s serve to take a 5-3 lead. He then held his serve to take the set 6-3 and set up a title clash with top seed and defending champion Stan Wawrinka.

"I am very happy to be in my first final. I played well today, I was brave when it mattered," said Coric after the match.

"Getting to the final in my first tournament of the new season is a big boost and I think it is going to help me have a good year

"I don't think I'm a top 20 player yet. There are small details that I need to add to my game and those will get me closer to the best players in the world."

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