Borna Coric on Sunday night, defeated high-flying world number 7, Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6, 6-2 to win his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Western & Southern – ending his spectacular week in grand style.
It was Tsitsipas who first broke Coric’s game service to go 3-0 up in the first set. The Croatian, however, fought hard to equal proceedings at 6-6 before the set was settled in a tie break. The tie break went in favour of Borna Coric who went straight 7-0 up to win the first set. In the second set, the Croatian powered his way past Tsitsipas 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.
Coric dropped just one set during his run to finals. En route the final, he defeated Lorenzo Musetti, Rafael Nadal, Roberto Bautista Agut, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Cameron Norrie. The 25-year-old has now won three tour-level titles, having previously won two at Marrakech in 2017 and Halle in 2018.