By Alberto Amalfi | Thursday, February 26, 2015

Teenager Borna Coric played like a man going places, while Andy Murray was stranded. A precise Coric drove deep shots that displaced Andy Murray behind the baseline onto the Dubai sign painted on the court.

Coric pushed the third-seeded Scot into obscure areas of the court. Then he shoved Murray right out of the Dubai draw.

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Nearly invincible on serve, the Croatian lucky loser scored one of the biggest wins of his career. Coric crushed Murray, 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the Dubai semifinals.

Facing one of the game's most dangerous returners, Coric was overwhelming on serve. He won 16 of 18 points played on his first serve, permitted just 5 points on serve and did not face a break point in a surprising 79-minute rout.

At the age of 18 years, 3 months, Coric is the youngest Dubai semifinalist since Rafael Nadal won the 2006 title at the age of 19 years, 8 months.

It is the second career semifinal for Coric, who defeated No. 13 Ernests Gulbis, Andrey Golubev and No. 3 Nadal to reach the Basel semifinals last fall before falling to David Goffin in three sets.

Coric's comfort level against the elite commands attention from Top 10 players.

"He's definitely one of the most talented players right now the world," said Novak Djokovic. "He beat Nadal in Basel four or five months ago, and since that tournament you can feel he has matured a lot. He feels comfortable playing with top players."

The most stunning aspect of this upset was just how easy Coric made it look against his flat opponent. Cruising through his service games, Coric masterfully mixed his slice backhand with his penetrating two-handed backhand leaving a passive Murray looking utterly befuddled.

It's rare to see Murray, who possesses the variety to thwart opponents, look so clueless. He threw mulitple tactical shifts at Coric, even serving-and-volleying at one point, but had no answers. Coric often played deep down the middle forcing the Murray to try to create angles.

Coric scored his second straight service break to build a 4-1 lead. He consolidated issuing his second consecutive love hold to extend to 5-1. By then, a confused Murray had committed 22 unforced errors compared to only two for the Croatian.

The Australian Open runner-up could not stall his free-fall. Murray netted a backhand off his back foot, dropping the opening set in 34 minutes.

The teenager three down his fourth love hold in a row to extend his second-set lead to 2-1. Coric won 17 consecutive points on serve until hitting his only double fault of the match to snap the streak. It was a brief miscue as he followed with successive winners holding at 15 for 3-2.

A sloppy sixth game cost Murray. He hit two double faults then netted a slice backhand to face break point. The Scot tried to change it up with a surprise serve-and-volley, but his opponent wasn't fazed. Coric countered with a clever bakchand lob winner breaking for the fourth time for a 4-2 lead.

Though he spent some time tugging at his lower back in the second set, Coric continued to command rallies. He backed up the break with another love hold for 5-2.

Coric will face either second-seeded Roger Federer for a place in the final.

The top-seeded Djokovic, who has practiced with the teenager, sees himself in Coric.

"I practiced with him a lot in last two, three months. Spent some time in Dubai and he was here so we practiced a few times, practiced a few times in Australia," Djokovic said. "I try to help him because I see, in a way, myself through him.  I've never felt that way when I practice with somebody as I felt with him. It's like playing myself. Very similar game.
Great fighting spirit, disciplined, focused, committed, confident, very young but confident, which is important."