Borna Coric began his Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships campaign in style on Tuesday, beating fifth seed Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-3.
The World No. 50 began both sets in top form and, despite dropping serve late in each set, re-established control quickly each time to secure the straight-set win in 76 minutes.
”He did come back in the both sets,” said Coric. “It was a pretty good effort from him... but I managed to stay calm. I didn't panic. It was good.”
Coric will meet another Frenchman for a place in the quarter-finals, after Benoit Paire’s three-set win over Yoshihito Nishioka on Monday. Coric leads their FedEx ATPHead2Head series 1-0.
Competing on tour for the first time since losing to John Millman in the first round of the Australian Open, the 2015 semi-finalist (l. to Federer) hit six aces and broke the Frenchman’s serve on four occasions to move into the last 16.
"I think I was returning pretty good today,” reflected Coric. “I was happy with my return. I think it got me through the match also. I was not serving very well. I was not happy with my serve. I need to go and practise some serves now. Otherwise... it was good performance.”
Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff also advanced to the second round, needing just 56 minutes to dispatch of Andreas Haider-Maurer 62, 6-4. Struff hit 13 aces and dropped just two points behind his first serve in a dominant serving performance.
Did You Know?
Borna Coric reached the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals, on his debut, as a lucky loser in 2015. The Croatian beat third seed Andy Murray en route to the last four, before falling to eventual champion Roger Federer.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour http://ift.tt/2GK7cdp
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