Borna Coric came back from one set down to edge seventh seed and last year’s US Open finalist Kevin Anderson 2-6 6-4 7-6 after 2 hours and 22 minutes. The 21-year-old Croatian star has advanced to his first Masters 1000 semifinal. He will face the winner of the quarter final between Roger Federer and Hyeon Chung.
Coric won for the 11th time in the last 12 decisive tie-breaks he has played to reach the biggest result of his career so far. He has become the first unseeded player to reach the Masters 1000 semifinals since Juan Martin Del Potro in 2011.
The Croatian player, who is coached by Riccardo Piatti and Kristijan Schneider, dropped just nine games in his opening three rounds before beating Taylor Fritz in a three-set fourth-round clash.
Anderson and Coric met for the fourth time in their careers. Coric had never won a set against Anderson in their previous three head-to-head matches, including a three-set defeat at last year’s US Open.
Anderson won four points more than Coric and fired 16 aces. Coric fended off six of the nine break points he faced. The Croatian player made a double fault to drop his serve and went down 2-4 in the third set but broke straight back in the seventh game of the third set.
Anderson earned an early break in the second game of the first set at 15 to open up a 3-0 lead. The South African player held his next two service games and sealed the first set in the eighth game 6-2 by converting his third break point at deuce.
Coric sealed the only break of the second set on his fourth opportunity after four deuces and saved the only break point in the fourth game he faced to take the second set 6-4 sending the match to the third set.
Coric held his serve at deuce in the second game of the decider after saving two break points. Anderson went up a break at 15 in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead. Coric broke straight back at 30 in the next game and held his serve at love to draw level to 4-4. Both players went on serve in the next four games setting up a decisive tie-break. Coric got two mini-breaks to earn three match points at 6-3 and sealed the win on his first opportunity to score his second third-set tie-break in this tournament.
Coric will face the winner of the quarter final between Roger Federer and Hyeon Chung. They will meet for a re-match of this year’s Australian Open semifinal, where the South Korean player was forced to retire from the match due to blisters.
