Borna Coric feels he is not playing his best tennis, and yet the Croat is still winning. For those with their eyes on the World No. 13, that’s a scary thought.

“In Dubai I was playing in the semi-finals so I was happy with that,” Coric told ATPTour.com. “But I was getting through the matches very, very tough. I won all three matches 7-6 in the third and then I lost [at the BNP Paribas Open] in Indian Wells to Karlovic, which obviously you never know what’s going to happen. Now here, I’ve won the past two matches, so it hasn’t been that bad. I just thought my level of tennis was not there, not what I expected. But that’s normal, it happens and it’s important that I keep competing.”

Perhaps, it’s that attitude that has helped make the Croatian’s past year arguably his best yet. Entering 2018, Coric had made just two ATP Masters 1000 quarter-finals, and he had not advanced past the last eight. But he made three quarter-finals at the elite level last year, including a trip to the Shanghai final and the Indian Wells semi-finals.

“That’s part of the journey. I was stuck between 40 and 50 [or so in the ATP Rankings] for two to three years. I needed to change something to come to the Top 15 and hopefully one day to the Top 10,” Coric said. “There’s a journey. You’re going to have ups and downs and it’s just important that when you’re kind of down, just continue working, focus on the right things, which I think I do. It’s just a matter of time, and the tennis is going to come.”

Coric’s talent has long been clear. He defeated both Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray in 2014 at just 17. But last season was his breakthrough, including a triumph at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, where he beat Alexander Zverev in the first round and Roger Federer in the final. Kristjan Schneider, Coric’s coach, chalks it up to altering his tactics on the court.

“First of all I think he is much more aggressive and that gives him a chance to make more pressure, especially on the top players because if you play too defensive, you really don’t have a chance against top players,” Schneider told ATP Tennis Radio last October. “He’s working on many things and he’s really a good guy in terms of training because he’s the one to push us to work on the things, and he wants to be better.”

Listen To ATP Tennis Radio’s Interview With Schneider:

Coric did have a slight hiccup after his 2018 campaign. With a short off-season of two weeks to work with, Coric got sick, meaning he got less than a full week of training in ahead of 2019.

“Last year I was really playing great and I was moving up through the year,” Coric said. “It was a really, really long year for me. [My short off-season] was one of the reasons I am not playing great, so hopefully on clay I can play better tennis.”

But Coric is not done on the hard courts yet, battling through two three-setters to reach the fourth round at the Miami Open presented by Itau. And judging by his level against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the third round, the 22-year-old feels that he is beginning to turn a corner.

“I think it was a very good match from my side,” said Coric. “I was playing very well — actually, for the first time in the past two, three tournaments since Australia — and I was really happy. That was just a little frustrating, because I lost the first set and I thought I was playing good. So I needed to get back my momentum in the second set, which I did. And then in the third, obviously, I played those important points very brave.”

Coric has an opportunity to reach another ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final when he faces Acapulco champion Nick Kyrgios on Tuesday at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. While the Aussie leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry, just one of those matches has come since 2016.

“[He’s an] unbelievable competitor, one of the best players in the world at the moment,” Kyrgios said of Coric. “Knows how to win matches, is an unbelievable athlete. I’ve played him a lot, so I know he’s not going to give me a single point for free. He moves incredibly well and has an unbelievable backhand.”

Tuesday features a mouth-watering roster of matches at the Miami Open presented by Itau, with all fourth-round clashes taking place at Hard Rock Stadium.

Top seed Novak Djokovic faces a stern test against No. 22 seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain. Although the Serbian leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 7-2, Bautista Agut won their most recent clash this January at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open and has prevailed in their past two hard-court matches. The 30-year-old has been in fine form this season, taking the title in Doha (d. Berdych) and reaching his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the Australian Open (l. To Tsitsipas).

Djokovic has been made to work in his first two matches this fortnight. The six-time Miami champion was pushed to a first-set tie-break against Bernard Tomic and dropped a set against Federico Delbonis. But the World No. 1 is at his best in the later stages of tournaments and will be eager to avenge his most recent loss to Bautista Agut.

Who will win the latest @FedEx #ATP Head2Head meeting between these players?#MiamiOpen

— ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) March 26, 2019

Fourth seed Roger Federer headlines the night session against No. 13 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia. The Swiss improved his form considerably in his third-round win on Monday, firing 35 winners to defeat Filip Krajinovic. Federer leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Medvedev 2-0, with both wins coming last October at the Rolex Shanghai Masters and Swiss Indoors Basel.

Medvedev stretched Federer to three sets in Shanghai and has remained solid in his results. The Russian prevailed last month at the Sofia Open (d. Fucsovics) and started the season with a runner-up finish at the Brisbane International (l. Nishikori). But with only one win over a Top 10 player (Wawrinka, 2017 Wimbledon), a high-profile victory would bring the World No. 15 in the ATP Rankings to a new level in his career.

Other marquee matches on Monday include seventh seed and defending champion John Isner of the United States facing off against 19th seed Kyle Edmund of Great Britain, sixth seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa taking on Jordan Thompson of Australia, and eighth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece battling No. 20 seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada in an all-#NextGenATP clash.

ORDER OF PLAY – TUESDAY, 26 MARCH 2019

STADIUM start 12:00 noon
[19] Kyle Edmund (GBR) vs [7] John Isner (USA)
Not Before 2:00 pm
WTA match
[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs [22] Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP)
Not Before 7:30pm
WTA match
Not Before 9:00 pm
[13] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) vs [4] Roger Federer (SUI)

GRANDSTAND start 12:00 noon
[Q] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) vs [17] Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO)
[11] Borna Coric (CRO) vs [27] Nick Kyrgios (AUS)
Not Before 3:00 pm
[6] Kevin Anderson (RSA) vs Jordan Thompson (AUS)
[18] David Goffin (BEL) vs [28] Frances Tiafoe (USA)
Not Before 7:00 pm
[8] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs [20] Denis Shapovalov (CAN)

Third seeds Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan pulled away to make the quarter-finals of the Miami Open presented by Itau on Monday.

The Bryans, five-time Miami champions, beat Nicolas Jarry/Franko Skugor 6-1, 6-7(6), 10-3 and will face Rohan Bopanna/Denis Shapovalov for a place in the semi-finals.

Two other seeded teams also moved into the quarter-finals. Fifth seeds Oliver Marach/Mate Pavic routed Radu Albot/Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1, 6-1, and top seeds Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo beat Guido Pella/Joao Sousa 7-5, 6-3.

Ivan Dodig/Edouard Roger-Vasselin knocked out Matwe Middelkoop/Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-3.

Two years ago, Russian Andrey Rublev got the better of Denis Shapovalov as the two teenagers competed at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.

But on Monday, the 19-year-old Canadian returned the favour. Shapovalov beat Rublev 6-3, 7-6(5) in a battle of hard-hitting baseliners to make back-to-back fourth-round appearances at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

The #NextGenATP Canadian converted only two of his 12 break points against Rublev, but Shapovalov was the steadier of the two during what, at times, seemed more like a boxing match as the two slugged away from the back of the court.

Rublev threw every part of him into his forehands and rarely approached the net, sometimes even backing up after reaching the service line.

Shapovalov, however, mixed in variety and attacked the net against the Russian, who qualified and was trying to reach his first fourth round at an ATP Masters 1000 event.

Shapovalov will next meet the winner between Greece’s #NextGenATP star Stefanos Tsitsipas, No. 10 in the ATP Rankings, and Argentine Leonardo Mayer.

It’s as if Kevin Anderson was never away. The sixth seed returned to the fourth round of the Miami Open presented by Itau on Monday, beating Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-4, 7-6(6).

Anderson is playing in only his second tournament of the season, after losing in the second round of the Australian Open to #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe. The South African withdrew from four events, including the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells earlier this month, because of a persistent right elbow injury.

But he has felt healthy in South Florida, and his play has reflected his condition. Anderson hit 13 aces against Sousa and was efficient all match with his serve.

The 2017 Miami quarter-finalist (l. to Carreno Busta) won almost 75 per cent of his service points and saved the only break point he faced. Anderson improved to 1-1 against Sousa in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

Portugal’s No. 1 was trying to beat a Top 10 player for the second year in a row in Miami (Goffin) and gain his fifth win against the elite group (4-30).

Anderson will next meet Aussie Jordan Thompson, who upset 24^th seed Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 7-5 to make the fourth round of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time.

Read More: Thompson Is On A Tear

The two traded breaks in both sets, but Thompson came through under pressure, breaking Dimitrov in the 12^th game of both sets. The 24-year-old Sydney native had never reached the third round of a Masters 1000 event before Miami. He is 0-1 against Anderson in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

Dimitrov also was playing in only his second tournament of the season because of a right shoulder problem.

On Monday, Miami Open presented by Itau Tournament Director James Blake exclusively spoke to ATPTour.com about the event’s new venue, Hard Rock Stadium, the most interesting feedback he’s gotten, David Ferrer and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

What’s been the best part of the venue change for you thus far?
For me it’s the optimism. The fact that any time a player or a fan or anyone asks for something, that we usually have the ability to take care of it. We’re coming up with solutions to the minor problems that are coming up. But I just love the fact that we’re going to be able to keep growing this event, and we’re going to be better and better and every year the players are going to come back to some sort of improvement. I’m just really loving the optimism.

A lot of the players had emotional ties to the old venue at Crandon Park because they’ve played there as juniors and pros. What has the process been like helping bring them on board here?
I really understood the skepticism last year, when you hear there’s going to be a stadium court inside a 60,000-seat stadium and there are going to be 29 other courts in a parking lot. It doesn’t sound appealing to a lot of players. But then when they’ve seen it, they’ve come around and they see how well it was done, how world-class the courts are.

Some of the players don’t take the time to go out to the village and see what’s out there for the fans, but hopefully they can at least appreciate that there are so many fans. We’re breaking records nearly every session, so they’ve got more fans to watch them play and I think they’re enjoying and appreciating that as well.

What’s been the biggest compliment you’ve gotten from the players?
I’d say from a player just hearing the fact that they love it. They’re excited to be here. So far the most animated they’ve gotten is with the coffee. They’ve got good coffee here. They didn’t like it at first, we fixed it right away, and we got some good coffee. I’m not a coffee drinker so I don’t have the same passion, but the passion of coffee drinkers is pretty strong.

Arthur Ashe Stadium is one thing with more than 23,000 seats, but your main court is inside a football stadium. How special has that been?
I think it gives us unique opportunities because we’ve got the 9s, which is nine unbelievable suites. We’ve got The 72 Club, which is another suite up a little higher and we’ve got the luxury seats down by the court. People are sitting in recliners. I actually went out yesterday and watched about half of a match sitting in those recliners in the front row. Even the US Open that’s got 23,000 seats and it’s beautiful, it’s amazing, it’s state of the art, it doesn’t have that kind of luxury the way that we have here.

So we’ve got a pretty unique selling point to a lot of fans. I spoke to a fan just the other day saying we were in Indian Wells, we came here as well and we just got talked into this upgrade and we’re doing it again next year because this suite is unbelievable, we’ve never experienced anything like this in tennis. To have that kind of compliment and to have that kind of ability makes me really excited about what the fans can experience here because it’s really unique.

What’s been your favourite tennis moment of the event?
I’d say Ferrer coming through against Sascha Zverev. I love Sascha Zverev, he’s going to have a ton of great experiences in tennis, a ton of great moments, but Ferrer, this is one of his last events. He’s got only two more events after this. We gave him the wild card because he’s done so much for the sport of tennis, been a finalist here before. The fans really love him and deservedly so. He’s the kind of guy who comes to work every day giving his absolute 100 per cent and he showed that, worked extremely hard to beat Sascha Zverev on a hard-fought night match.

So to have him win a couple matches in his swan song, it’s pretty fun for me to see. It’s a lot of fun when someone’s already reached that point in their career that they know they’re done, but they’ve still got a little bit left in the tank.

Did that night bring back any memories to your three matches against him and sort of give you flashbacks?
I remember playing him and how difficult it was and so I sensed some of Sascha Zverev’s frustrations when he was playing him. It did bring back some memories of some of my matches with him and just watching him play a lot as well, I think a lot of players respect and admire how much he’s gotten out of his game. At 5’9” against a Tour that has become increasingly tall and big and strong, he’s accounted for that with heart, with intangibles and with consistency and a great mindset for the game.

It’s something that’s really impressive because as they always say you can’t teach 6’6”, you can’t teach someone genetics. But his heart, that’s something he’s sort of been born with, but it takes a ton of work every single day to be committed to putting in the effort that he’s putting in. I like seeing that and I love the way his career has gone and the way he’s retiring now, he’s going to be a legend in our sport for a very long time.

While David is closing out his career, Felix Auger-Aliassime is just getting started, and he’s into the Round of 16 at an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time. What’s it been like to see him break through at your event?
It’s a lot of fun. Felix is someone who played qualies as a wild card last year, played qualies this year. He would’ve gotten into the main draw if it had just been a couple weeks later. To come through qualies, it very easily could be the last qualies he plays in his career because he’s that good that he should never really be dropping back down into qualies. He’s got such amazing talent and it’s fun to see because he’s got a really good head on his shoulders for a guy who’s only 18 years old. He’s far beyond where I was at 18 physically and emotionally, so I think I’ve got a lot of respect for the way he’s gone about his young career already, putting his health first, doing a lot of things the right way, taking steps in the process rather than trying to make huge leaps and bounds right away.

When you take those steps, it’s amazing how quickly those bounds come. You start having success quicker and quicker and it becomes almost easier than expected. Now people are starting to expect big things out of him and we’ll see because the next step is living up to those expectations and figuring out how to deal with those mentally and emotionally and the fact that there are so many people who are going to be on him, whether it be media, sponsors, critics, everything’s going to be around him and he’s got to be able to distance himself from that and focus on the tennis.