World number 152 (injury-protected ranking), Borna Coric made history – lowest ranked player to make it to the Cincinnati final – after defeating number 9, Cameron Norrie in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the Western & Southern Open final.
The Croatian didn’t take long to crush his opponent in just over 90 minutes to advance to his second Masters 1000 final. The 25-year-old won a healthy 79 per cent of the exchanges behind his first delivery to bully his opponent in the rallies.
The Zagreb-born faces a tall order on Sunday against world No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas, who defeated top-ranked Daniil Medvedev 7-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the featured semifinal match on centre court.
Tsitsipas reached the semifinals for the third straight year, but it’s his first final after losing in the semis each of the past two years. Tsitsipas defeated Medvedev for the third time in 10 meetings.
In the women’s semifinals, Petra Kvitova outclassed Madison Keys 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-3 to reach the Western & Southern Open final.
The 32-year-old had never advanced to the semifinals in 10 prior appearances in the Cincinnati tournament. It is the Czech’s 40th career final, and she’ll face another surprise entrant in Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, the first qualifier to reach the final in Cincinnati.
“That’s nice to have this experience, even at my age,” Kvitova said, smiling. “In my career, I had many, many finals, but never here. It feels different because it’s for the first time in Cincinnati”, Espn.com reported
The 28-year-old Garcia won her seventh straight match, beating sixth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
There were two rain stoppages during the match, totalling four hours. Garcia took the first set, but following an almost 2½-hour delay, Sabalenka forced a third set.
The second rain delay came with Garcia leading 3-1 in the third. But once play resumed, she made quick work of the Belarusian, winning three straight games to become the first qualifier to reach the finals in a WTA 1000 event.