Croatian tennis player Borna Ćorić (ATP-13) defeated Australian player Nick Kyrgios (ATP-33) with a score of 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 after 116 minutes of play on Tuesday. For the second consecutive year, Ćorić advanced to the quarterfinals of the ATP Masters 1000 series tournament in Miami, the Miami Open, reports Gol.hr on March 26, 2019. 

In the quarters, Ćorić will meet 18-year-old Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime who overcame Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-6 (4), 6-4 and achieved a career result.

Ćorić reached his third victory in Miami this year by not allowing his 23-year-old Australian opponent to disrupt his concentration, which was crucial for Ćorić’s success in the round of 16 against Kyrgios.

Ćorić was the first to reach a break in the match, for 3-1 in the first set, though he lost the lead in the next game. In the ninth game, Kyrgios took advantage of a slightly weaker period in Ćorić's game for a new break and the first set. 

However, the Croatian tennis player came back in the second set, where his break for 4-2 was enough to compete for the third set. And in the third, Ćorić first had the break advantage at 3-2. The pivotal moment happened in the next game, where Borna pulled 0-40 and confirmed the break. Kyrgios cracked when referee Gianluca Moscarella gave him a warning and a point penalty, which brought Ćorić to 5-2. There was no return for the Australian player. 

Final statistics showed just how solid Ćorić was, as he finished the match with 35 straight points and only 14 unforced errors. And in other segments, from utilizing the first and second serve to realizing break chances, the Croatian tennis player overwhelmed Kyrgios. 

Ćorić’s next opponent is 18-year-old Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime, the first qualifier since 2007 who reached the quarterfinals in Miami. Twelve years ago, Argentinian Guillermo Canas came out of the qualifications and lost to Novak Djokovic. Ćorić has yet to play against the Canadian teenager, who is the first tennis player born in this millennium (8.8.2000) to break into top 50. 

Their quarterfinal match will be played on Wednesday.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

Croatian tennis player Borna Ćorić advanced to the third round of a strong Masters 1000 series tournament in Miami, the Miami Open. Ćorić celebrated against Jérémy Chardy (ATP-40)  6:7 (2), 6:2, 6:3 after two hours and 38 minutes of play, report Gol.hr on March 25, 2019. 

After losing the first set in the tiebreak after more than an hour of play, Ćorić took control of the game in the second set, which he won easily with 6:2. Although Chardy served five aces, and Ćorić only one, the Croatian took the Frenchman’s service twice and did not lose his own once. 

In the third set, the situation was similar, but Ćorić was better at serving and managed five aces. In addition, Ćorić retook the service of his rival and didn’t lose his once in the set.

In the match, Ćorić served 12 aces, as did Chardy, though he was better at both the first and the second serve (76 percent and 57 percent to 69 and 48 percent). The French tennis player lost his serve to Ćorić four times while Ćorić lost his only once.

This was the fifth game between Ćorić and Chardy and the third win of the Croatian tennis player who will meet Australian Nick Kyrgios, 33rd on the ATP ranking, in the round of 16 on Tuesday. Ćorić has played against Kyrgios three times and has celebrated only once.

Last year's best men’s doubles team, Croatian Mate Pavić and Austrian Oliver Marach, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Miami Open with a convincing 6:1, 6:1 win against Moldovan Radu Albot and Georgian Nikoloz Basilasvili. The next rivals for Pavić and Marach will be Polish player Lukasz Kubot and Brazilian Marcelo Melo.

Earlier on Monday, Ivan Dodig and doubles partner Eduard Roger-Vasselin defeated Dutchman Matweed Middelkoop and Argentine Diego Schwartzman at 6:4, 6:3 in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals, Dodig and Roger-Vasselin will play against the Argentine Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos.

Darija Jurak will also play in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open in the women’s doubles with partner Raluca Olaru. The two will play on Wednesday against Ashleigh Barty and Victoria Azarenka. 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

Just 92 minutes were needed for 40-year-old Ivo Karlović to overcome Borna Ćorić 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the second round of the Masters 1000 Series tournament in Indian Wells, reports HRT on March 9, 2019. 

It was Karlović’s third win in the same number of official matches against his fellow countryman and rival 18 years his junior. While the first two duels could still be attributed to Ćorić’s lack of experience, as they happened in 2015 and 2016, the defeat at Indian Wells, where Borna was the 11th-seed of the tournament, is indeed an indication that Karlović has a game for his younger compatriot.

Since Jimmy Connors in the 1995 tournament in Halle, no 40-year-old has managed to combine two victories on the ATP Tour. How Karlović beat Ćorić gives him the right to have something to hope for in the next round, where Indian tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran will be on the other side of the net.

In the first set, Karlović missed two chances to break before making the third break in the tenth game and thus won the first set of the match. In the second set, Ćorić went on to take over Karlović’s service, but he lost the acquired advantage in the next game. There was no new chance to break in the second set until the 13th game. Karlović again prevailed and left Ćorić with only two points.

"Dr. Ivo" had 20 aces in this duel but won the match thanks to the excellent realization of points against Ćorić's first service. Namely, Borna won only 58% of the points after the first service, and 76% after the second, which is a very unusual statistic.

As last year's semi-finalist in Indian Wells, Ćorić threatens to lose a few places on the ATP rankings, and Karlović, entering the 3rd round, pushes him to the top 80 in the world.

On Sunday, around 9:30 pm Central European time, Marin Čilić will play his second-round game. The 10th-seed at the start of the tournament awaits Serbian tennis player Dušan Lajovic, who is 45th on the ATP ranking. Čilić leads 2-0 in mutual duels.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

In this season’s first Masters 1000 series tournament in Indian Wells, 40-year-old Ivo Karlović secured his first win by knocking out 31-year-old Australian player Matthew Ebden (ATP-49) with a score of 7-6 (3) 7-6 (3) after one hour and 49 minutes of play. In the second round of the tournament, Karlović will play against the 11th-seed and fellow countryman, Borna Ćorić, reports 24 Sata on March 8, 2019. 

Karlović came to the victory in a unique way, through two tiebreaks in which he was superior, and in the second set, he managed to compensate for the loss of one service.

Karlović saved all three breaks in the first set and missed one - and at the start of the second set, in the second game, Ebden managed to pull 0-40 to prevent the Croatian veteran from reaching a more significant advantage. The Australian managed to get out of his crisis, and in the fifth game, had a break that he kept until the moment when his service was supposed to secure the second set. Though that match point never came. 

With a tiebreak Karlović was once again prevailed, just like in the first, and reached his first win in Indian Wells after 2014, ending a series of four consecutive defeats at the BNP Paribas Open where his best result was the quarterfinal in 2011. Karlović managed his second win over Ebden and now equalizes the Australian in mutual duels (2-2).

Both players took advantage of one of five breaks, though Karlović had significantly better use of the first service than the Australian.

His next rival is last year's semifinalist in Indian Wells and fellow countryman, 22-year-old Borna Ćorić. Ćorić currently leads 2-0 head-to-head with Karlović, though those games were played in 2015 and 2016 in Bucharest and Wimbledon when Ćorić was not entirely on the same qualitative level as he is today, even though he had already been named one of the highest hopes of world tennis.

Borna comes to Indian Wells off of a great result from the ATP tournament in Dubai, where he lost in the semifinal to the legendary Roger Federer 2-0 (6-2, 6-2).

Karlović and Ćorić will play their match on Saturday night in California, or Sunday morning Central European time. 

Marin Čilić is also competing in this tournament, where he will play Serbian player Dušan Lajović in the second round on Sunday. 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

Borna Ćorić has advanced to the semi-final of the Dubai Open after defeating Georgian tennis player Nikoloz Basilashvili in three sets.

In his first win in the fourth match against the 33-year-old Czech player, Borna Ćorić achieved a massive turnaround to push into the quarterfinal of the Dubai Open. 

January 21, 2019 - Borna Ćorić failed to reach the quarter-final of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season. 

22-year-old Zagreb-native Borna Ćorić has moved into the round of 16 of the Australian Open.

January 17, 2019 - It was another mostly successful day for Croatians in the Australian Open, as Borna Ćorić and Mate Pavić join Marin Čilić and Petra Martić in the round of 32. 

Croatian tennis players Borna Ćorić and Ivo Karlovič have advanced to the 2nd round of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, the Australian Open, after eliminating their rivals Belgian player Steve Darcis and Polish player Hubert Hurkacz in the first round.