Croatia’s Borna Coric will take on fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open
Stefanos Tsitsipas has had a frustrating season so far, failing to win any silverware despite playing some good Tennis. He began the year with commendable runners-up finish at the Australian Open and once again lost in the final of the Barcelona Open last month. He has come to Rome at the back of a quarter-final exit from the Madrid Open. The Greek star is desperate to win a title and break the jinx for the remainder of the season.
Tsitsipas has been pretty dominant so far at the Italian Open. The No.5 seed is yet to drop a set in the tournament and looks in sublime touch. He began his campaign with a comprehensive victory against Nuno Borges and followed it up with another straight sets win over Lorenzo Sonego. In the Round of 16, Tsitsipas beat Lorenzo Musetti to set up a clash against Coric. The Greek star is one of the favourites to win the tournament and it remains to be seen if he can live up to expectations.
Borna Coric has come into this tournament at the back of a Semi-final appearance at the Madrid Open last week. It was a much-needed positive result for him after his poor run of form wherein he suffered first-round exits in 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. He then went on to defeat Spain’s Carballes Baena and Hungary’s Marozsan in the following two rounds to set up a quarter-final clash against Tsitsipas.
Date – Thursday, 18th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Foro Italico
Match details – Quarter-final
Tsitsipas and Coric have played each other five times before on the ATP tour. Both players know each other’s game pretty well. All matches have been closely fought but Coric has the slight upper hand and leads 3-2 on head-to-head. It’s a difficult match to call as both players have similar playing styles and the performance on that particular day is likely to make a difference. We are predicting an intense encounter with Stefanos Tsitsipas eventually coming out on top in three sets.
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