[1] Andy Murray (GBR) vs. [59] Borna Coric (CRO)
Their encounters have been pretty straight forward; however, Murray knew that Coric was a dangerous opponent. In 2015 he blitzed Murray in straight sets and took everyone, including Murray, by surprise. Murray has been struggling to find his number one form since his return from right elbow injury and he has been finding it a bit more difficult that he anticipated. Coric is a confident player and even after his return from last year’s knee surgery, he has not lost his belief. It has certainly helped his confidence to have won his first singles title earlier this year, where he took out three quality players en route to that title on clay.
Murray simply seemed unsure of his game, which is understandable since probably on a subconscious level he is still worried about his injury. Also as fit as these players are, any break away from the game leaves them a little rusty and on clay you need to be able to tough out the long rallies. On a mental level any doubt about your fitness or health will detract from your focus and that may be the reason why Murray made so many questionable shot selections and unforced errors. He will have to get it together quickly because he has a lot of points to defend; he’s the defending champion in Rome and last year’s finalist at Roland Garros. Coric is feeling very lucky indeed as he gets the first win of his career over a number one ranked player with this 6-3, 6-3 victory.
SOURCE OF IMAGE: Bing search
