PBZ Zagreb Indoors, Croatia

[CR69] Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) vs. [CR91] Borna Coric (CRO)

All eyes are on Coric, the recipient of 2014 ATP Star of Tomorrow Award.  He got noticed when he defeated Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the 2014 Swiss Indoors Basel tournament. Now, more is expected of him. Unfortunately, the weight of expectation was too much of a burden for the young player, especially at his home tournament.  He was very anxious in the first set and made many careless errors which resulted in an easy set for Stakhovsky.

Coric appeared to settle into the match in the second set when he broke back to even the set at 3-all.  At 4-all serving to take the lead in the set, Coric inexplicably lost his nerve.  He double faulted twice to lose the game and essentially the match.  Stakhovsky played within himself; he was the calmer and more consistent player.  His big serves came in handy when he was down break points and when he needed to focus, he did.  Although a little tension crept into his game as he served for the match, he was able to suppress them to serve out the set.  Despite some resistance from Coric in the second set, Stakhovsky won 6-2, 6-4.