Last year’s reigning champion at the grass tournament in Halle, Borna Coric, is through to the round of 16 at the NOVENTI OPEN. He wins 7:6(2), 6:3 against Croatian player Jaume Munar.
The spectators saw an eye to eye second match on the Centre Court at the 27th NOVENTI OPEN. Both players served well and wasted little points. Especially Munar’s first service brought sure points for the 22-year-old from Spain. 90% of the points were made after first service. The world’s no. 88 was the better return player in the beginning of the first set, made some mistakes though, too. At 4:3, the player from Spain even had the only two break chances in the first set leading 5:3, but wasted both. “I was a bit nervous in the beginning, because I am reigning champion here“ Coric said after about the difficult start of the match.
The first round had to be decided in the tie-break. After fending off break points, Coric found his game and took up speed. Last year’s champion dominated the tie-break, left his opponent without a chance and decided the first round 7:6(2) after 48 minutes.
And in the second set both 22-year-old youngsters fought for every point. Munar’s performance, especially with his own service, decreased however. Coris profited from this phase of weakness and got two break points. The world’s no. 14 did better than his opponent in the first set and lead 4:1. „The early break in the second set helped me a lot“, the Croatian said afterwards. The winner of 2018 in Halle hadn’t allowed another break point. And Munar made far too many mistakes on this afternoon. After 85 minutes the earned winner was Borna Coric.
Coric will now face qualifier Joao Sousa.
