TENNIS ATP BASEL – 17 year-old Borna Coric continues to surprise. The Croatian eliminated an under-par Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard announced after the match that he will miss the rest of the season to undergo surgery for his appendicitis. Roger Federer is also in the semifinals after defeating Grigor Dimitrov.
Borna Coric stunned the crowd in Basel by defeating second seed Rafael Nadal in the quarter finals of the Swiss Indoors. The Croatian teenager won 6-2, 7-6(4) taking advantage of a lack-lustre performance by the world number 3. Nadal struggled from the start to find his rhythm, particularly with his forehand, losing the first 5 games. Nadal improved enough to cut the deficit by 2 games, but he couldn’t stop Coric from winning the first set 6-2. The second set was closer and was decided with the tie-break. Again it was the errors by Nadal that paved the way for the Croatian’s win. On his part, Coric played a tactically astute match, he realised early that Nadal was struggling with his baseline shots so he defended trying to force the Spaniard into a mistake, in the end Nadal made 37 unforced errors.
After this match, Nadal announced that he will skip the Paris-Bercy Master 1000 and the ATP Finals in London to undergo surgery for his appendicitis, “I knew it was going to happen. I was ready for that. I accept that and I know I have to be better for the beginning of 2015, and the only way to be better is work and health. Without health, you cannot work.”
Coric seemed very calm and composed during the final stages of the match, but in reality he was nervous as he explained in his post match interview, “Believe me, I’m a very nervous person. I was just trying to keep it inside of me. I didn’t have anything to lose, because I never played against him, I wasn’t sure what I was going to get, is he going to kill me or what? So I was under pressure.”
Coric’s opponent in the semifinal will be David Goffin who recorded his first win against a top 10 player, Milos Raonic. The Canadian won the first set at the tie-break, but then lost the next two sets 6-3, 6-4. The Belgian player is undefeated since he lost to Dimitrov in the US Open third round.
In the other big match of the day, Roger Federer won 7-6(4), 6-2. The Swiss is aiming to win his sixth Basel title and he is still hoping to become end of year world number 1. “I thought the level was high throughout for both of us. I think Grigor served very well in the first, he didn’t give me very many opportunities. It was a tough end to the set, with me saving set points and then the tie-break stayed close at the end, but I’m very pleased to come through there. I think overall it was a very good performance and I played my best tennis of the week so far.”
Federer will face Karlovic in the semifinal. The tall Croatian won 6-4, 6-4 against Benjamin Becker.
