Teenager Borna Coric secured the first upset of the week at the relaunched Estoril Open on Monday with his 6-2, 6-4 knockout of French sixth seed Jeremy Chardy.
The youngest player in the field, debuting at the event, celebrated his success on the same day as fellow prodigy Nick Kyrgios of Australia left his teen years behind, turning 20 with a practice session and a meal at the Club de Tenis do Estoril, accompanied by his coaching team.
Tweets were plentiful as world No. 46 Kyrgios, seeded seventh, prepared for his second clay-court match of the season against Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas at a tournament now under fresh German-Portuguese management and being staged at a new venue.
Photo: EPA
The Australian lost in the first round in Barcelona last week after holding two match points against Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer.
Kyrgios has been injured for much of this season, compiling a sparse 5-3 record, with Barcelona his first event in more than a month since an ankle injury suffered in March at Indian Wells.
Coric leveled his record with Chardy at 1-1 after losing to the world No. 32 in the first round of the Australian Open. He next faces Portuguese competition as he waits for a winner from Joao Sousa and wild-card Rui Machado, a quarter-finalist five years ago.
“I had a practice match with Sousa in Miami, I think I lost a set 6-4,” Coric said. “Either one of those guys will be tough, they are both playing at home and guys usually play better in front of their home crowds. I’ll try my best and see what happens.”
Coric said that he was not feeling at his best during practice, but lifted with perfect timing for his 93-minute win.
“I was struggling in practice, I was not feeling the ball. I was scared of how I would play in the match, but I played well after all,” he said. “There was a bit of wind, but that is to be expected here. I was playing very good tennis, it was a good match for me.”
Coric broke for 2-1 in the opening set, enough of a margin to win the opener. He went down a break early in the second, got it back and broke again for 5-4, before serving out victory a game later on the first of two match points.
Dutchman Robin Haase won his fourth match of the season and his first on clay with a defeat over Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 6-3, 6-7(6/8), 6-4.
Haase next faces Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, playing as a tournament top seed for only the fourth time in his career.
Filip Krajinovic of Serbia put out Alejandro Gonzalez 6-3, 6-3, while eighth seed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg defeated Portuguese wild-card Federico Ferreira Silva 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
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