By Alberto Amalfi | Saturday, January 4, 2020
Borna Coric beat Dominic Thiem for the first time in three years sealing Croatia's 3-0 sweep of Austria in ATP Cup action in Sydney.
Photo credit: Mutua Madrid Open
Borna Coric broke down Dominic Thiem's backhand to breakthrough for his first win over the Austrian in three years.
Coric topped a sloppy Thiem 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3 clinching Croatia's 3-0 sweep of Austria in ATP Cup action in Sydney.
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It was Coric's first win over Thiem since the 2017 Miami Open.
"[I'm] very happy," Coric said. "I was not coming into this match with lots of confidence, playing great. I honestly didn't know what to expect, if I'm going to play good or not. But I was playing really good tennis.
"Even though [I lost] the second set, I felt I was playing good tennis, honestly. It's just that he was playing too good. And then in the third set, I just found that on important points I was playing really brave, and in the end it paid off."
Former US Open champion Marin Cilic fired 15 aces fighting back for a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 decision over world No. 108 Dennis Novak to open the tie.
The two-handed backhand is Coric's most reliable weapon and he used it effectively. Banging his backhand crosscourt, Coric rattled errors from the Austria's one-handed backhand on pivotal exchanges.
Coric coaxed 41 errors from Thiem, including 23 from the backhand.
Thiem committed eight double faults as Coric continuously pressed the Austrian's second serve.
The two-time Roland Garros runner-up fought off four break points holding in the second game of the decider. Two games later, Coric broke at 15 for a 3-1 lead.
Coric survived a stiff test saving three break points in an epic 18-point hold to extend the lead to 5-2.
"I'm really disappointed with the result," Thiem said. "But I think it was typical for my first match of the year. It's always a struggle with the first match. I don't know why.
"This was the first match since London so many things weren't working out yet. But it's fine. It's coming. I'm hoping it will be much better on Monday, already."
Ivan Dodig and Nikola Mektic were 7-6(4), 6-2 victors over Oliver Marach and Jurgen Melzer in doubles to complete Croatia's sweep.
The 24-team event is being contested in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney round-robin stages through January 12th.
The six winners of each group and the top two second-place finishers advance to the Final Eight beginning on Thursday in Sydney.