Coric Closes on SF Berth

Wednesday’s final match was intense, and it was largely due to the innovative format being used at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals.

Borna Coric was serving for the match against Daniil Medvedev, up two sets to one and 3-2, 40/15. On the surface, it seemed like the Russian had little chance. But thanks to the no-ad scoring system, when Medvedev found his way to deuce, everything was on the line. One more point and he could force a tie-break, and from there a fifth set.

But Medvedev could not save a third match point, and Coric prevailed, 4-3(5), 2-4, 4-1, 4-2.

“I think it was really physical,” Coric said. “The first two sets were extremely tough.

Coric’s physicality was simply too much for Medvedev. The Croatian wore the seventh seed down over the course of the match. Coric began to gain rhythm on the Russian’s serving patterns, especially in the deuce court, and once rallies became extended the advantage went to Coric, who won 61 per cent of the total points over the final two sets, erasing all four break points.

Whereas Hyeon Chung advanced to the semi-finals earlier in the day thanks to his second victory of the tournament, Coric still has work to do after his second triumph. Both Group B spots in the semi-finals remain up for grabs on Thursday, the final day of round-robin play.

Coric will play the group’s other Wednesday winner, Karen Khachanov, in Thursday’s final evening session match.

Medvedev, who defeated Khachanov in the first match of the event, will look to add his second win against Jared Donaldson, who seeks his first.

There are 13 different qualifying scenarios for Group B, with Coric moving on in all but possibly two of them. If Khachanov and Medvedev both triumph in three sets, then Khachanov will win the group and Medvedev would qualify second. If Khachanov wins in four sets and Medvedev in three sets, then Donaldson the order will be determined by the percentage of games won. In all scenarios, Donaldson has been eliminated from contention for the semi-finals.