Anderson Powers Past Coric

Kevin Anderson powered into the US Open fourth round on Friday as he defeated Borna Coric 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 at Flushing Meadows.

The South African didn’t always find his best tennis, but urged himself on as he determinedly chipped away at Coric to prevail in one hour and 49 minutes. Coric had been looking to build on the second-round upset win he had recorded over fourth seed Alexander Zverev on Wednesday.  

Anderson will look to reach the quarter-finals for the second time in New York when he faces Paolo Lorenzi on Sunday. The South African made his first Grand Slam quarter-final at Flushing Meadows two years ago with back-to-back wins over Dominic Thiem and Andy Murray (l. to Wawrinka).

Lorenzi came through an all-Italian clash with Thomas Fabbiano 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 to reach a Grand Slam fourth round for the first time at the age of 35.

The No. 40-ranked Lorenzi is more at home on a clay court that a hard court, highlighted this year by runs to the finals in Quito (l. to Estrella Burgos) and Umag (l. to Rublev). But the right-hander has seen off Joao Sousa, Gilles Muller and now Fabbiano to make his mark at the US Open.

If Lorenzi is to take his fairytale run further, though, he will need to overcome a 0-3 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Anderson.