ATP Cup 2020: Borna Coric Stuns Dominic Thiem to Defeat Austria

Published 01/04/2020, 7:48 AM EST

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Croatia’s Borna Coric stuns the World No.4 Dominic Thiem 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3 in 2 hours and 45  minutes to win a tough Group E tie against Austria at the ATP Cup 2020 in Sydney.

Substandard set one from Dominic Thiem

Coric put Dominic Thiem on the backfoot right from the first point of the match. The Croatian was up with three breakpoint opportunities in the first game of the set at 0-40. Borna Coric got off on the right foot as he secured the break after missing the first chance.

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The Austrian earned two chances to break back in the next game but could not capitalize onto it as Coric held a dicey service game. Thiem got the re-break in the fourth game to level back the set at 2-2.

However, Coric shift gears at the right moment to break Thiem at 4-3. Not playing up to the mark, Theim saved a set point on his serve at 3-5 and held a crucial serve game. The 26-year-old fought hard to break back and stay in the set at 5-5. The two players then forced the set to the tiebreaker.

 

Coric took command in the tiebreaker as he cruised to 5-1 in no time. Giving some hopes to the Austrian box, Thiem won the next three points only to lose the tiebreaker at 7-4.

Thiem’s comeback in the second set

Dominic Thiem was all over Coric in the second set. The World No.4 stepped up to break Coric in the first game of the set. He earned the second break to get a comfortable 5-2 lead before serving out the set 6-2 in just 34 minutes. Thiem did not face a single breakpoint in the set as he levelled back the match at 1-1.

Borna Coric steps up to win the match in set three

The 23-year-old dominated the third set as he earned three breakpoints in the second game. However, Thiem held his head and saved all the three breakpoints and held his serve. Coric then went onto break his opponent in the fourth game to get a 3-1 lead.

The World No.4 earned 3 chances to get a re-break at 2-4 but squander the opportunities. Thiem then got the break at 5-3 only to get broken in the next game to lose the set 6-3.

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Earlier, Marin Cilic came back from a set down to defeat Austria’s Dennis Novak 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 to give a 1-0 lead to Croatia.

 

 

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Written by:

Varun Khanna

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One take at a time

Starting off as a tennis author in 2018, Varun Khanna has gone on to contribute to EssentiallySports in various capacities. After setting up interviews with the likes of Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou, Alizé Cornet, and Noah Rubin, Varun is now part of all major ATP and WTA press conferences and has gone on to pen more than 1300 articles for EssentiallySports. He now heads the tennis and NBA division of the organization.
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