Croatia’s Borna Coric will take on Spaniard Carballes Baena in the third round of the Italian Open
Borna Coric is coming into this tournament at the back of a Semi-final appearance at the Madrid Open last week. It was a much-needed positive string of results for him after his poor run of form wherein he suffered first-round exits in all of his four recent tournaments – Srpska Open, Monte-Carlo Masters, the Miami Open and the Indian Wells Masters.
His best performance before the Madrid Open came at the Dubai Tennis Championships in March, where he reached the Quarter-finals but eventually lost to No.3 seed Daniil Medvedev. Coric is yet to win any silverware this season and he will be gunning for his maiden title of the year in Rome.
The 26-year-old is seeded No.15 at the Italian Open and has made a good start to the tournament. Coric received a ‘Bye’ in the first round thanks to his superior ranking. The Croatian showed immense grit and determination to come back from a set down to win 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 in the second round against Thiago Monteiro. It remains to be seen if Coric can continue his good run and go deep into the tournament.
Carballes Baena has been very impressive so far in the tournament. He began his campaign with a 6-2, 6-3 victory in the first round against Hugo Dellien.
In the second round, he pulled off a major upset against No.20 seed Dan Evans. He will certainly draw confidence from a comprehensive victory in the last round and aim to cause another major upset against the much-fancied Borna Coric. However, it will be an uphill task for the Spanish veteran and he has to play his best game in order to have any chance against Coric.
Date – Monday, 15th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Foro Italico
Match details – Round of 32 match
Coric and Carbellos Baena have played each other two times before on the ATP Tour. Both the matches were closely fought but the Croatian has the upper hand and leads 2-0 on head to head. On paper, Coric is the clear favourite both in terms of form and rankings. However, it’s a difficult match to call as the performance on that particular day is likely to make a difference. We are predicting an intense encounter with Borna Coric eventually coming out on top in three sets.
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