Teenagers no longer win Grand Slams. But they sure do dent the odd reputation. Like Borna Coric did to Rafael Nadal at Basel.
The 18-year-old Croat was looking for a repeat act on Wednesday, this time against reigning Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka. But, for all the promise and the accompanying hype, his firepower was expertly doused by the Swiss with a 6-1, 6-4 win in the pre-quarterfinals of the Aircel Chennai Open.
In a sense, the two matched each other in most areas of the game. Both their first serve percentages were in the fifties. Wawrinka hit 24 unforced errors to Coric’s 23.
But the difference was in the number of winners: Wawrinka hit 22 to Coric’s nine.
Tough three-setterEarlier in the day, fourth seed David Goffin came through a tough three-setter against Ricardas Berankis to enter the quarters. The first set of the match was a rout. Berankis won all of five points and it lasted just 16 minutes. That Goffin is an excellent returner is well-known. But on display was also his immaculate third shot, the return of the return.
Berankis’s serve was way off mark in the first set. And Goffin’s positioning on the return and his excellent transition from defence to offence saw him take the set 6-0.
Even Goffin conceded that he “didn’t expect to play at that level.” So with the bagel in the bag, he seemed to switch off. A break in the first game and a hold to love in the next gave Berankis a 2-0 lead.
The Lithuanian pegged Goffin way behind the baseline making it tough for him to transition to offensive positions. Having done that, Berankis executed some deft drops to run down which his opponent didn’t have the legs.
The 24-year-old Belgian did manage to earn a couple of break-points with Berankis serving at 4-3, but the latter weathered the phase and went on to square the match at a set apiece.
Berankis’s problems with his serve resurfaced in the third set. Till the sixth game, each of his service games was a struggle. But at 3-3, he completely turned the tables and put the Goffin’s serve under pressure.
The Belgian held on, and then broke Berankis to go up 5-3 with the match on his racquet.
Goffin’s serve isn’t the most potent of his weapons. But on the day it was clean and tidy for the most part. He was broken for only the second time while serving for the match.
The match had to eventually be decided by a tie-break, and it ended just the way the match had begun — in a canter, as Goffin dropped a single point.
The results: Second round: David Goffin (Bel) bt Ricardas Berankis (Ltu) 6-0, 4-6, 7-6(1); Gilles Muller (Lux) bt Elias Ymer (Swe) 6-4, 6-3; Stan Wawrinka (Sui) bt Borna Coric (Cro) 6-1, 6-4; Andreas Haider-Maurer (Aut) bt Jiri Vesely (Cze) 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4. Doubles: First round: Purav Raja (Ind) & Adil Shamasdin (Can) bt Aljaz Bedene (Slo) & Damir Dzumhur (Bih) 6-1, 6-2.
