By Chris Oddo | Thursday, July 24, 2014
Following in Alexander Zverev's footsteps, Borna Coric has become the second 17-year-old to reach a tour-level quarterfinal in as many weeks.
Photo Source: Vegeta Croatia Open Umag
For the second consecutive week, a 17-year-old has reached the quarterfinals of an ATP event on his home soil. This time it was last year’s U.S. Open junior champion, Borna Coric, doing the wowing.
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The Croatian became just the 10th active player to have reached an ATP quarterfinal at the age of seventeen with a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory over Horacio Zeballos, the player who knocked him out of last year’s draw in the first round.
After taking the first set tiebreaker, Coric drew first blood in the second set, breaking for a 4-2 lead.
The ride quickly got rocky for Coric in the next game as he fell behind 0-30, and then faced two break points at 15-40. But some decisive play enabled the world No. 230 to wiggle out of trouble as he served an ace for a 5-2 lead.
After failing to convert two match points in the next game, Coric served out the match in the next game, rifling a crosscourt forehand winner to seal his spot in Umag’s lasts eight.
Coric will face either top-seeded Fabio Fognini or Albert Montanes in quarterfinal action on Friday.
In other action on Thursday in Umag, Teymuraz Gabashvili upset fourth-seeded Joao Sousa, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, while qualifier Pablo Cuevas upset sixth-seeded Andreas Seppi, 6-3, 6-1.
Notes, Quotes:
The nine other active 17-year-olds to have reached tour-level quarterfinals are Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt, Marin Cilic, Richard Gasquet, Juan Martin del Potro, Kei Nishikori, Karen Khachanov and Alexander Zverev.