Rafael Nadal on Wednesday lost 7-6 (11/9), 4-6, 6-3 to Borna Coric at the Western & Southern Open in the Spaniard’s first match since pulling out of the Wimbledon semi-finals due to injury, dealing a big blow to his preparations for the US Open.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner had been hoping to get as many matches under his belt as possible after returning from an abdominal injury, but losing to the Croat means he heads to Flushing Meadows well short of competitive action.
After an hour-long rain delay, Coric, who returned to the Tour in March after a lengthy absence due to a shoulder surgery, edged a nail-biting tiebreaker to take the opener after each players had saved two set points.
Photo: AFP
With the crowd firmly behind Nadal, the 36-year-old roared back into the contest by breaking former world No. 12 Coric’s serve midway through the second set to force a decider.
However, Coric, now ranked 152nd, got his only break of the left-hander’s serve for a 4-2 lead and then sealed his spot in the third round with an inside-out forehand winner on his first match point after 2 hours, 51 minutes.
“It has been very, very special,” Coric said after his victory over world No. 3 Nadal, who won the Australian and French Open titles in an injury-plagued season.
Photo: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY
“I was honestly just looking forward to playing this match, as I haven’t had that in the last two years,” he said. “Now that I won, it’s kind of crazy.”
Coric next faces another Spaniard in Roberto Bautista Agut, who defeated home hope Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-3.
Cameron Norrie fought back to beat former world No. 1 Andy Murray 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in an all-British clash.
The upset of the day went to American wild card Ben Shelton after the 19-year-old continued his dream ATP Masters debut with a 6-3, 6-3 win over world No. 5 Casper Ruud.
A day after taking down Lorenzo Sonego, the 229th ranked Shelton needed just 68 minutes to beat Ruud and advance to a third-round match against fellow left-hander Norrie.
Andrey Rublev of Russia scored a 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 win over Italy’s Fabio Fognini.
Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece sailed into the third round with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Serbian Filip Krajinovic, while Pole Hubert Hurkacz, runner-up in Montreal on Sunday, lost to his doubles partner this week, American John Isner, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (5/7), 6-2.
It was a good day for Canada with seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov picking up victories.
Auger-Aliassime cruised past Australian Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-2 while Shapovalov rallied for 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over in-form American Tommy Paul to register back-to-back victories for the first time since May.
In the women’s singles, Emma Raducanu stormed into the third round with a 6-0, 6-2 thrashing of Victoria Azarenka, signalling that she will be well-prepared for her US Open title defense.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek beat former US Open winner Sloane Stephens 6-4, 7-5 to start her campaign at the WTA 1000 tournament, the last big tune-up event before the hardcourt major starts in New York.
It was a Tour-leading 50th win of the season for two-time French Open champion Swiatek, who faces Madison Keys in the third round after the American beat Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 7-5.
“I’m trying to really focus on the future and kind of not coming back to expectations and everything that happened on last tournaments on hard court,” she said.
In the women’s doubles, Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil and Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina defeated Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Sam Stosur of Australia 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).
Additional reporting by staff writer
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