January 21, 2019 – Borna Ćorić failed to reach the quarter-final of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.
It was another unlucky defeat for Croatia’s Borna Ćorić, who was unable to get past French representative Lucas Pouille in the Australian Open’s round of 16 on Monday. Ćorić and Pouille played 6:7, 6:4, 7:5, 7:6 after three hours and 19 minutes. The Frenchman has secured the quarter-final of the tournament for the first time in his career, reports Gol.hr.
Ćorić opened the match with an immediate break, and in the tie-break, Ćorić nailed the first set with an ace.
Though we hoped Borna could keep that momentum, Pouille got the best of him for the rest of the match. Borna started making errors, which is uncharacteristic of the Zagreb native, which at the end accumulated to 12 more than the French tennis player.
Pouille had a break in the second and third set to lead 2:1 in sets and was on the verge of doing the same in the fourth. Fortunately, Ćorić was able to make a comeback, but it wasn’t enough.
Four times a charm for @borna_coric.
On his fourth break point, the No. 11 seed finally converts for 4-4 to get back on serve with Lucas Pouille.#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/OZw7oolF12
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2019
Ćorić served 24 aces in the 3-hour game, and Pouille 19. The Croatian tennis player made 55 unforced errors, and Pouille 43.
This was the third match between Ćorić and Pouille, who is ranked 31st on the ATP ladder, and the first win of the French tennis player. Pouille will play in the quarter-final against Canadian Miloš Raonić, who is trained by Croatia’s Goran Ivanišević. Ćorić entered the Australian Open as the 11th-seed of the tournament and Pouille the 26th.
Mate Pavić is Croatia’s only remaining representative in the tournament now and will play in the mixed doubles round of 16 with partner Gabriela Dabrowski on Tuesday. Pavić and Dabrowski will face Jean-Julien Rojer and Chan Hao-ching.
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