September 5, 2020 – Great news just in from New York as Petra Martic and Borna Coric advanced to the last 16 of the US Open!
A new success for Petra Martic at the US Open, as Croatia’s best female tennis player and 8th-seed of the tournament, advanced to the round of 16 on Friday, defeating Russian Varvara Gracheva (102nd on the WTA list) in two easy sets – 6:3, 6:3.
In the first set, the Russian player held the result at 1:1, and Petra took the 1-0 lead with two breaks.
Unfortunately, in the first game of the second set, Martic allowed Gracheva a new chance to break, but she returned immediately in the next game. After 3:1, Martic managed to save as many as five chances for Gracheva to reduce the score to 3:2, but the Russian still returned and served at 4:3.
Fortunately, Martic managed to lead 5:3 and served for the match. In the last game, Martic did not lose a single point and advanced to the 4th round of the US Open for the first time in her career.
Her opponent will be Kazakhstani player Yulia Putintseva, who beat Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. It will be the first meeting between Martic, currently the 15th best player in the world, and Putintseva, who is 35th in the WTA rankings.
After four hours and 38 minutes of play, Croatian tennis player Borna Coric also reached the last 16 of the US Open! Coric defeated the fourth seed, Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas, in five sets.
It seems that nothing can stop Borna Coric at this year’s special edition of the US Open, including the sixth-best player in the world.
It was a marathon match that went to five sets, and in the fourth set, Coric achieved the impossible as he was down 2-1 and 5:1 and saved as many as six match points. The match ended 6-7(2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(4).
“I have to be honest and say that I was really lucky. I made some unbelievable returns, and I was a little bit lucky at the end. In the third and fourth set, he was playing unbelievable tennis, and I felt like I had no chance. In the fifth-set tie-break, I knew it was not going to be easy for him, so I tried to just keep the ball in court and make him play as many balls as possible,” said Coric after the match for the ATP Tour.
In the last 16, Coric will face Australian Jordan Thompson, who convincingly defeated Mikhail Kukushkin in three sets.
Donna Vekic will face Tsvetana Pironkova in the third round on Saturday, while Marin Cilic will face Dominic Thiem in his third-round match.
Nikola Mektic and Dutchman Wesley Koolhof (8th-seed) advanced to the doubles quarterfinals of the US Open! The duo topped Italian-Argentine team Simone Bolelli / Maximo Gonzalez in the 2nd round match – 6:4, 6:3. After the semifinals of Wimbledon 2017 and Roland Garros 2018, this is their third-best result in men’s doubles at the Grand Slam tournaments.
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