Coric Captures Maiden Masters 1000 Crown In Cincinnati

Borna Coric captured his first ATP Masters 1000 title on Sunday at the Western & Southern, where he overcame Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(0), 6-2 to end his dream week in style.

The Croatian, who was competing in his first tour-level final since 2020, defeated Rafael Nadal en route to his second Masters 1000 final. With the pressure on, Coric demonstrated courage against the Greek, rallying from 1-4 in the first set, before he blitzed his way past the fourth seed in the second set to triumph after one hour and 57 minutes in Cincinnati.

Coric missed the majority of last season due to a shoulder injury and entered the Cincinnati draw with a protected ranking, sitting at No. 152 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. However, he is up to No. 29 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings following his fairytale run, while he has improved to 2-1 in his ATP Head2Head series against Tsitsipas.

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Tsitsipas flew out of the blocks in an enthralling first set as he opened his shoulders to race into a 4-1 lead. Coric showed signs of nerves in the opening exchanges, but started to settle as the set went on. The Croatian began to find his spots on serve, while he hit with greater depth and pace off the ground to claw back to 4-4. With a tie-break left to decide the first set, it was Coric who raced into top gear, capitalising on untimely errors from Tsitsipas to lead.

After hitting 18 winners in the opener, the 25-year-old continued to look comfortable at the start of the second set. Coric hit his water-tight groundstrokes with consistency on return and gained the decisive break in the sixth game of the set against a tiring Tsitsipas. The Croatian, who committed just 14 unforced errors, then fended off pressure from Tsitsipas when serving, before he broke again to earn the biggest win of his career.

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Coric dropped just one set during his run to the championship match in his sixth appearance at the hard-court event, also defeating Lorenzo Musetti, Nadal, Roberto Bautista Agut, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Cameron Norrie. The 25-year-old has now clinched three tour-level titles, having soared to success in Marrakech in 2017 and Halle in 2018.

Tsitsipas was aiming to capture his third Masters 1000 title and 10th tour-level trophy. The Greek, who retained the title in Monte Carlo in April, edged Daniil Medvedev in a hard-fought semi-final win and is up to No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

The 24-year-old has also risen to second in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin as he looks to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for a fourth consecutive season. He lifted the trophy at the season finale on debut in 2019.