Borna Coric beat German lucky loser Daniel Altmeier 6-3 6-3 to reach his first Masters 1000 semifinal on clay at the Madrid Mutua Open.
Coric converted his third break point in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead after a double fault from Altmeier and never looked back to win the first set 6-3. The Croatian player did not face a break point and broke in the first game of the second set to build up a 6-3 1-0 lead. He held serve at love with a backhand lob at 3-2 40-40 before breaking serve in the ninth game of the second set to seal the win after 1 hour and 14 minutes. Coric won his first Masters 1000 title on hard-court on hard-court.
Coric set up a semifinal against defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Karen Khachanov 6-4 7-5. “Carlos is an unbelievable player in unbelievable shape in the moment. He is the favourite and I am going to go out there and I am going to enjoy myself. I like to play here in this stadium. It’s going to be a very cool feeling for sure”, said Coric.
