Tennis: Coric climbs 123 ranking places after Cincinnati title

PARIS, France -- Croatia's Borna Coric soared a remarkable 123 places in the ATP rankings on Monday after becoming the lowest ranked player to win a Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati.

The 25-year-old spent a year out of action with a shoulder injury which required surgery, before returning in March.

He arrived in Cincinnati as the world number 152 after spending much of his 2022 season on the second-tier Challenger circuit but is now ranked 29th.

Coric dropped just one set in the tournament, against 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in the second round, and beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday's final.

Tsitsipas climbed two places to world number five, while Cincinnati semi-finalist Cameron Norrie jumped two spots to a career-high ranking of ninth.

ATP top 20:

1. Daniil Medvedev 6,885 pts

2. Alexander Zverev (GER) 5,760

3. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 5,630

4. Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) 5,190

5. Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 4,890 (+2)

6. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 4,770

7. Casper Ruud (NOR) 4,695 (-2)

8. Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) 3,625 (+1)

9. Cameron Norrie (GBR) 3,415 (+2)

10. Hubert Hurkacz (POL) 3,355

11. Andrey Rublev 3,120 (-3)

12. Taylor Fritz (USA) 3,090 (+1)

13. Jannik Sinner (ITA) 3,020 (-1)

14. Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) 2,375

15. Matteo Berrettini (ITA) 2,360

16. Diego Schwartzman (ARG) 2,200

17. Marin Cilic (CRO) 2,175

18. Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) 1,840 (+1)

19. Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 1,730 (-1)

20. Alex de Minaur (AUS) 1,665

Selected:

29. Borna Coric (CRO) 1,360 (+123)

Agence France-Presse

Tennis: Coric becomes 2nd player at Djokovic event to test positive for COVID-19

PARIS, France -- Borna Coric announced on Monday he has become the second player to test positive for coronavirus after taking part in an exhibition tournament in Croatia featuring world number one Novak Djokovic.

"Hi everyone, I wanted to inform you all that I tested positive for COVID-19," the Croatian, ranked 33rd in the world, posted on Twitter.

pic.twitter.com/4ztqLYvjE4

— borna coric (@borna_coric) June 22, 2020

It follows Sunday's announcement by Grigor Dimitrov that he had also tested positive after pulling out of the exhibition event, which is one of the biggest since the tennis season was halted because of the pandemic.

Coric tweeted: "I want to make sure anyone who has been in contact with me during the last few days gets tested!

"I am really sorry for any harm I might have caused! I'm feeling well and don't have any simptoms (sic). Please stay safe and healthy! Lots of love to all!"

One of Djokovic's coaches and another member of Dimitrov's entourage have also reportedly tested positive for the virus, according to Croatia's N1 television channel.

Coric had beaten Bulgaria's Dimitrov in the second leg of the Adria Tour in Zadar on Croatia's Adriatic coast on Saturday.

Dimitrov withdrew from the Balkans tournament following that match, complaining of feeling unwell.

Sunday's final between Djokovic and Russia's Andrey Rublev was immediately cancelled as a precaution.

Australian star Nick Kyrgios responded to Coric's tweet by describing the staging of the tournament as "boneheaded".


- 'Not a joke' -

"Boneheaded decision to go ahead with the 'exhibition'," Kyrgios wrote on social media.

"Speedy recovery fellas, but that's what happens when you disregard all protocols. This IS NOT A JOKE."

🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️ Boneheaded decision to go ahead with the ‘exhibition’ speedy recovery fellas, but that’s what happens when you disregard all protocols. This IS NOT A JOKE. https://t.co/SUdxfijkbK

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) June 22, 2020

Also playing in the tournament were world number three Dominic Thiem, former US Open winner Marin Cilic, seventh-ranked Alexander Zverev and Filip Krajinovic.

Responding to Dimitrov's positive test on Sunday, Djokovic's brother Djordje, the tournament director, told Sportske Novosti: "Novak? He took this news very hard. We undertook all the measures prescribed by the governments of Serbia and Croatia."

The news of Coric's positive test emerged as Serbian football league champions Red Star Belgrade reported that five of their players had gone down with coronavirus just 12 days after their derby clash with Partizan Belgrade.

The game was watched by 16,000 fans, the largest sporting gathering seen in Europe since the continent went into lockdown in March. 

The Adria Tour had been organised to fill the gap in the virus-hit tennis calendar which has been on ice since mid-March and was played out to a daily crowd of 4,000 fans at Djokovic's tennis centre on the banks of the Danube in Belgrade last week.

Dimitrov, Djokovic and Thiem, as well as the other players, were then seen partying at a packed Belgrade night spot.

Thiem has since travelled to the south of France to play in another exhibition tournament, the Ultimate Tennis Showdown in Nice.

The Adria Tour had already suffered an embarrassing setback when the planned Montenegro leg of the four-nation tournament was cancelled over coronavirus protocol rules.

Montenegro was due to be the third stop on June 27-28 after Croatia and before the conclusion in Bosnia.

But organisers said the visit to Montenegro had to be called off when it became apparent Serbia's health requirements did not match up to those of Montenegro.

Commenting on social distancing measures during the Belgrade leg, Djokovic argued that both Serbia and the region had been relatively successful in containing the virus.

"Of course you can criticise, you can also say this is dangerous or not, but it's not up to me to make the calls what is health-wise right or wrong," the 17-time Grand Slam winner told reporters.

Last week, the ATP and WTA said they were restarting their tours in August.

However, the US Open in New York will be played behind closed doors and under strict health protocols which Djokovic has described as "extreme" and "impossible".

Agence France-Presse

Tennis: Djokovic cruises past Coric to win 4th Shanghai title

Novak Djokovic continued his scintillating run of form as he breezed past Croatian Borna Coric, 6-3 6-4, to win the Shanghai Masters title for the fourth time on Sunday.

With a clever mix of groundstrokes, the 31-year-old Serb broke Coric's serve in the sixth game and made a series of forays to the net as he consolidated his lead.

The Serb grabbed the opening set with a hold to love, having dropped just four points on his serve overall.

Coric, who collected one of the biggest wins of his career by defeating Roger Federer in the semifinals, looked far from his best in his first ATP Masters final as he dropped his serve in the opening game of the second set.

The 21-year-old saved three match points to hold serve in the ninth game before Djokovic served out to clinch his fourth title of the season.

Djokovic, who has returned to his brutal best this season with Grand Slam wins at Wimbledon and the U.S Open, will surpass Federer as world number two when the next edition of the ATP rankings are released on Monday.

The 14-times Grand Slam champion extended his winning streak to 18 matches as he continues to chase Rafa Nadal's world number one crown, with the Spaniard skipping the Asian swing to recover from a knee injury. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Cool Coric steers Croatia into Davis Cup final with France

ZADAR, Croatia - Borna Coric kept his cool to prevail in a thrilling winner-takes-all duel with fellow young gun Frances Tiafoe on Sunday and steer Croatia into the final of the Davis Cup for the second time in three years with a monumental 3-2 victory over the U.S.

The 21-year-old Coric came from two sets to one down to defeat the 20-year-old debutant Tiafoe 6-7(0) 6-1 6-7(11) 6-1 6-3 and finally subdue a remarkable fightback from the Americans, who had earlier levelled the tie 2-2 from two down.

Late understudy Sam Querrey had rewarded captain Jim Courier's gamble by taking the tie into a decider in the fourth rubber, battling back from the brink of two sets down to beat home talisman Marin Cilic 6-7(2) 7-6(6) 6-3 6-4.

Yet with everything resting on the first duel between two of tennis's brightest young 'Next Gen' men, Coric overcame the loss of two very contrasting tiebreaks to book Croatia's final date against champions France.

"That was unbelievable. This is the most special moment of my whole life," said a thrilled Coric on court afterwards.

The French, who defeated Spain 3-2 in the other semi-final in Lille, will have home advantage in the November showdown and hope to avenge their 3-2 loss to the Croatians in the 2016 semi-final.

The self-styled men's 'World Cup of Tennis' will also see a repeat of the football World Cup final in Russia with the French, 10-times Davis Cup champions, again favourites to beat the Croatians, whose only victory came in 2005.

Yet for a moment, after Coric had capitulated 7-0 in the first set breaker and 13-11 in the third set decider, the shocked fans in the Dalmatian resort feared Croatia could be on the wrong end of one of the competition's unlikeliest comebacks.

Coric, though, demonstrated why he is seen as one of the sport's best prospects, holding his nerve against the equally brilliant young American and proving too solid over the final two sets as he finally prevailed after four hours six minutes.

At 2-0 down after Friday's singles, there had not seemed the remotest chance of a U.S. team without their top two players John Isner and Jack Sock recovering to reach a first final in 11 years.

Only when 40-year-old Mike Bryan and Ryan Harrison fought courageously to claw out a five-set doubles win on Saturday, were the Americans given even faint hope of contesting the last final to be staged under the traditional Davis Cup format.

BOLD RISK

But Courier was rewarded for a bold, if slightly desperate-looking risk when he rested his No.1 Steve Johnson and instead threw Querrey into the must-win fourth rubber even though the 30-year-old had never previously beaten Cilic in six attempts.

Cilic had also become the most successful Croatian Davis Cup player in history on Friday when winning his 37th rubber against Tiafoe but the world number six was found wanting when, after winning the opening set on a tiebreak, he stood on the verge of a commanding lead.

He took a 6-1 lead in the second set tiebreak in superb fashion only to crumble under Querrey's onslaught with the American world number 61 winning seven straight points.

"I just hung in there. After being 6-1 down in the tiebreak, I just played aggressively and from then on the pressure just builds," said Querrey.

Cilic's early dominance on the outdoor clay, cheered by an enthusiastic crowd in the Dalmatian resort, then evaporated as Querrey took the next two sets to win in three hours and eight minutes.

In Lille there was relief that the Croatians had won as it guaranteed the final would be a home tie for France.

Yannick Noah, who will be seeking a fourth win as French captain, will be wary of the Croatian firepower. He was captain two years ago when Cilic contributed all three points to the home side's semi-final win in Zadar.

"That was kind of a bitter feeling for me because I felt we were really close and we went and lost it," recalled Noah. "Now, with the chance of back-to-back wins, this is going to be an opportunity for us to go into the history books."

(Editing by Toby Davis and Christian Radnedge)

source: news.abs-cbn.com