By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Borna Coric cracked 12 aces spoiling Rafael Nadal's Cincinnati return with a 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-3 upset—his third win in five meetings vs. the 22-time Grand Slam champion.
Photo credit: Getty
Late in the third set, Borna Coric came nose-to-nose with Rafael Nadal at net.
Reacting to a body shot, Coric reflexed a volley winner.
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That exchange was a microcosm of the match: Nadal put himself in winning positions, but Coric came up with answers at crucial stages.
A bold Coric cracked 12 aces and faced only one break point spoiling Nadal's Cincinnati return with a masterful 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-3 upset tonight.
It's tough enough just to play Nadal on even terms. World No. 152 Coric reached rare air with this win—his third in five meetings vs the 36-year-old Spanish superstar—joining Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko and Dominik Hrbaty as the fourth man to own a winning record over Nadal with a minimum of four matches played.
Playing Cincinnati on a protected ranking, Coric consistently attacked his first serve and showed courage to play down the lines at pivotal stages. Coric, whose two-handed backhand is his best groundstroke, really went after his forehand hitting 17 forehand winners compared to nine for Nadal, who was making his first Cincinnati appearance since 2017.
It was Nadal's first match since he outlasted Taylor Fritz in a five-set Wimbledon thriller 41 days ago and his first hard-court match since bowing to Fritz in the Indian Wells final on March 20th. The two-time Olympic gold-medal champion suffered an abdominal tear at Wimbledon that forced him to concede a walkover to Nick Kyrgios in the Wimbledon semifinals.
The defeat means Nadal can't surpass world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev for the top spot at the end of the tournament and ensures the reigning US Open champion the top seed for Flushing Meadows.
Given the layoff, there were some understandable signs of rust. Nadal hit seven double faults, including two in the tiebreaker, missed a couple of routine rally shots on his set points and double-faulted away the opening set. Still, there were plenty of positives too. Nadal showed no signs of the abdominal tear that forced him out of Wimbledon, ran with vigor and closed net with confidence
Six years ago, Coric crushed a weary Nadal 6-1, 6-3 to reach his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal in Cincinnati at age 19. Coric, who missed the final eight months of the 2021 season due to a shoulder injury, came out playing with an aggressive mind-set and had the edge in the early exchanges. Then the rain came.
When play resumed after about a 90-minute rain delay, Nadal worked through a love hold for 6-5. Coric cranked a 134 mph ace down the T to force the tiebreaker after 55 minutes of play.
Both men showed signs of tension in the tiebreaker.
Leaping for a high backhand volley, Coric snapped off the shot and Nadal ducked the oncoming ball. That shot helped Coric, who held up an apologetic hand for the inadvertent near head shot, level after 10 points. The Croatian sailed a forehand as Nadal earned his first set point.
Lack of match play and the reps Nadal craves were evident as the Spaniard looked a little unsettled on set points.
On his first set point, Nadal lined up his forehand drive volley but whacked it well wide for 6-all.
Set point number two came at 7-6 and saw Nadal net his trusty two-handed backhand.
Across the net, Coric was feeling the jitters, too. The 25-year-old Croatian set up the first-strike forehand he wanted, but bungled a drop shot attempt into net as Nadal leveled at 9-9.
Uncharacteristically, Nadal curled a crosscourt forehand wide to hand Coric another set point. This time, Nadal nudged his second double fault of the breaker into net ending a tight 74-minute set on a meek miss.
Coric clubbed an ace, holding to start the second set.
The former world No. 12 narrowly missed the mark on a forehand down the line handing Nadal break point in the seventh game. Dancing around his backhand, Nadal hammered a heavy diagonal forehand to draw the error and break for 4-3.
After showing some indecision in the first-set breaker, Nadal asserted his aggression in the latter stages of the second set soaring to snap off high backhand volley and back up the break.
The 14-time Roland Garros champion showed forward thinking to seal the second set.
Down 15-30, Nadal stormed forward for a smash, which Coric blocked back, setting the Spaniard up for a Jimmy Connors-esque sky hook slam. Instead of staring down double break point, Nadal evened the game 30-all.
A serve-and-volley set up an emphatic smash for set point. Nadal knifed a brilliant backhand volley off another serve-and-volley closing the second set in style to force a final set after two hours, six minutes.
Netting his seventh double fault, Nadal fell into a 15-30 hole in the sixth game. Coric attacked behind a forehand down the line for his second break point of the evening. Leaning into a series of crosscourt backhands, Coric drew an errant forehand down the line breaking for 4-2.
Serving for the match, Coric leaned into a laser backhand crosscourt and slammed a forehand down the line to open. Hitting a heavy serve, Coric hammered a forehand for double match point.
Driving a diagonal forehand winner, Coric pumped his fist furiously at his support box celebrating his third win in five career meetings vs. the 22-time Grand Slam champion.