Borna Coric waited nearly four years to reach his third ATP Masters 1000 semi-final. It’s no surprise he was able to handle a further delay of a few hours on a rainy Saturday at the Western & Southern Open.

But the Croatian didn’t take long once he got on court, cruising past Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4 in just over 90 minutes to advance to his second Masters 1000 final. Back in top form following shoulder surgery, Coric will face World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev or fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas as he bids for his first title at that prestigious level.

“It was a very tough day, a very long day as well,” the former World No. 12 said post-match. “I didn’t expect to play at 7:30. I came here at 3 o’clock and I thought I was going to play a little bit earlier. Then I thought I was going to play later because of the delay.

“It was a crazy day but in the end it did finish very good. I was obviously very happy with my tennis today, I was playing extremely well.”

Originally scheduled as a daytime match on centre court, Coric and Norrie instead walked onto the Grandstand just after 7:30 p.m. in Cincinnati as the schedule shifted in response to the rain. Norrie started brightly under the lights as he built a 3-1 lead in the opening set, but Coric snapped into gear to win five straight games and run away with the set.

“At the beginning I was not there, I was not feeling the ball very well,” the Croatian said. “Then I did find my rhythm. I started to serve better, I started to play much better and I think that was the key to the match.”

The Croatian did what Carlos Alcaraz could not do consistently enough against Norrie in the quarter-finals by bullying his opponent in the rallies, and he did not let up in the second set as he won eight straight points to surge ahead 4-2.

Coric’s baseline brilliance made up for a 43 per cent first-serve percentage, and he saved the lone break point against him in the second set before dropping just three points in his final four service games.

While the Croatian did not repeat his near-perfect quarter-final performance on first-serve, when he won 31 of 32 points against Felix Auger-Aliassime, he won a healthy 79 per cent of the exchanges behind his first delivery against Norrie. He finished the match with 22 winners, including seven aces.

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Having entered the Cincinnati main draw with a protected ranking, Coric has soared 104 places to No. 48 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings this week. He could reach as high as No. 29 with a victory on Sunday against Medvedev or Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The Croatian leads Medvedev 4-2 their ATP Head2Head series and is level with Tsitsipas at 1-1, including a fifth-set tie-break win in their most recent meeting at the 2020 US Open.

Coric has dropped just one set this week, in his second-round upset of Rafael Nadal.

Rain has suspended play at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Saturday, with the action not resuming before 4:15 p.m. local time.

World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev and Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas will meet in the semi-finals at the ATP Masters 1000 event following the completion of the second WTA singles match of the day. Caroline Garcia and Aryna Sabalenka are currently in the second set after the first WTA singles match was won by Petra Kvitova.

Croatian Borna Coric will then face four-time tour-level champion Cameron Norrie later.

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There always seems to be so much at stake when Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas face each other on a tennis court.

In fact, of their nine-match history, all meetings but one have come at the ATP Masters 1000, Nitto ATP Finals or Grand Slam level. Saturday’s matchup at the Western & Southern Open, what will be their 10th encounter, is no exception, a spot in the 2022 final hanging in the balance.

World No. 1 Medvedev holds a 7-2 advantage in the ATP Head2Heads.

“He’s one of the best,” said the No. 4 seed Tsitsipas, who advanced to his third consecutive Cincinnati semi-final via a tight 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3 decision over 2013 finalist John Isner. “I’m going to have to play my game. Of course, an obstacle like Daniil is never easy, but I’m going to try to stay concentrated, try to approach my game in the most precise, best manner. I’ll let my tennis do the talking, and the rest will present itself if it’s something that I deserve.”

Medvedev, who’ll be the top seed at the US Open later this month, continues to prove himself in big moments. In his 7-6(1), 6-3 dismissal of American Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals, he improved to 20-6 in tie-breaks at ATP Masters 1000 events.

“That’s great, because a tie-break is a funny thing,” said Medvedev, through to his first Masters 1000 semi-final of the year. “We call it a ‘lottery.’ I do think it’s that way a little bit. I remember when I had my crazy run in 2019 [when he reeled of six straight finals], I won a lot of tie-breaks [11] in a row. Then I remember a time in my career when I lost five or six in a row. Now I’ve won a lot again. I just try to do my best, play every point. For sure, you lose some, you win some. But 20-6 is a good record. I’m happy about it.”

Medvedev, a titlist here during that unheard-of run in 2019, claimed their most recent encounter, a 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 semi-final victory in January at the Australian Open.

“I’m happy with my level,” said the 26-year-old World No. 1. “If I can continue to play this way, and especially during the match raise my level, I can beat anybody.”

Medvedev leads the four semi-finalists in the INSIGHTS Steal metric, having won 34 per cent of his points from defence this week. Tsitsipas paces the pack in Conversion rate after seeing home 76.1 per cent of points from attack. The Greek also tops the chart with a 26.1 per cent In Attack score, which shows that he’s played more than a quarter of his shots in attack in reaching the semis. Learn more about INSIGHTS.

Limited to just nine matches in 2021, and only 16 thus far in 2022, Borna Coric is suddenly resembling the player who once climbed as high as No. 12 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Back in business after recovering from shoulder surgery, the 26-year-old Croat is through to his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final in four years, having pushed aside the Top-10 likes of Rafael Nadal (7-6(9), 4-6, 6-3) and Felix Auger-Aliassime (6-4, 6-4).

Credit the work he’s put in outside of match play, especially on the serve. Against Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-finals, Coric hit eight aces to just one double fault, and won an astounding 97 per cent (31 of 32) of his first-serve points.

“I was serving a lot last week,” said Coric, who after an opening-round, 6-3, 6-2 loss to countryman Marin Cilic in Montreal, put in some serious hours on the practice court. “I took the risk with my shoulder. I never know how much I can serve, but I just took the risk and was practising really hard.”

Next up for Coric, who has surged 86 places to No. 66 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, is 9th seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain. It marks the left-hander’s second career ATP Masters 1000 semi-final after winning Indian Wells last October.

“He’s a great competitor,” said Norrie, who is up to a career-high No. 9 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings and who can move to No. 8 with a title or runner-up finish. “He’s really got some good level. I’ve watched him quite a lot this week. He beat Rafa, obviously, the other day. He’s playing some of his top level. He’s won his matches very comfortably, so he’s going to be feeling pretty fresh and ready to go.”

The foes split their two previous meetings, with Norrie prevailing in the Round of 16 in Shenzhen in 2018, 6-4, 7-6(8), and Coric taking a 6-2, 6-2 second-round decision in Rome in 2019.  

Starting the week at No. 152, Coric is the second-lowest-ranked Cincinnati semi-finalist since 1973 (No. 203 Byron Bertram, 1975).

Former college star Cameron Norrie has played the role of professor this week at the Western & Southern Open, schooling three 19-year-olds on his way to the Cincinnati semi-finals. In Friday’s quarter-finals, he gave third seed Carlos Alcaraz a lesson in staying the course as he answered the Spaniard’s comeback bid with a turnaround of his own in a 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 6-4 victory.

Norrie, who also beat teens Holger Rune and Ben Shelton this week, surrendered a 4-1 lead in the second set before battling back from 1-3 down in the decider with an unflinching performance in the face of the Spaniard’s charge.

While Alcaraz was below his best for stretches of the evening, he produced one of the points of the season at 5/4 in the second-set tie-break. The electric exchange sparked the 19-year-old into life, but Norrie never folded even as he was 10 points from defeat.

While the Briton did not play the flashy brand of tennis that Alcaraz used to beat him in each of their previous three meetings, he frustrated his opponent with his steady game on centre court, patiently grinding from the baseline and capitalising on his hard-earned opportunities to step into the court.

Norrie was one the ropes at the start of the third set, with Alcaraz having whipped the crowd into the frenzy in forcing a decider. After saving a break point in his opening service game, he fell behind 1-3 as Alcaraz grew in confidence. But Norrie responded instantly and did not face a break point again, earning the decisive break in the set’s ninth game.

More to follow…

Two days after a statement win against Rafael Nadal, Borna Coric showcased his staying power on Friday at the Western & Southern Open by reaching his first ATP Masters 1000 final since 2019. The Croatian, who returned to the ATP Tour in March after shoulder surgery, earned a one-sided 6-4, 6-4 win against Felix Auger-Aliassime to continue his best week of the season.

The World No. 152 is the second-lowest-ranked Cincinnati semi-finalist since the start of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 1973, and the third-lowest-ranked ATP Masters 1000 semi-finalist since the start of the prestigious series in 1990. But he wont be setting records like that much longer — he has skyrocketed 86 places to No. 66 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings with his run this week and could rise as high as No. 29 with his first Masters 1000 title.

Asked how he has found such a high level after his first-round loss to countryman Marin Cilic in Montreal, the Croatian credited a hard week of practice after his early exit in Canada.

“Honestly I’m not sure, because last week I was playing really bad,” he said post-match. “I was training really hard from last week. I lost on Monday and I decided to train a lot. I was spending many hours on the court, so I think that was the key, to be honest. I was playing many sets and I was trying to find my game.”

Coric’s dominant quarter-final win was built on a near-perfect performance on first serve. The Croatian won 31 of 32 points (97 per cent) behind his first delivery and did not face a break point in the one-hour, 40-minute contest. He was never pushed as far as deuce on serve, his easy holds freeing him up to swing out on return.

“I just came [to Cincinnati] and I just started to serve very good,” he said of his strong performance this week. “I don’t want to say too good because then tomorrow I’m not going to serve good, so I’m going to just say it was very solid. I was serving a lot last week. I took that risk with my shoulder. I can never know how much I can serve but I just took the risk and I was practising really hard.”

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With powerful ground strokes consistently finding the corners, Coric created nine break chances across five return games, converting in the third game of the opening set and the seventh of the second. Auger-Aliassime had a brief opening on return at 30/30 after he battled through a 12-minute service hold to lead 3-2, but Coric dialled back in to avoid a momentum shift. 

The Canadian saved two match points in a comeback win against Jannik Sinner on Thursday, but he could not repeat those heroics as Coric raced through two love holds to close out the match. The 25-year-old roared towards his team after grinding out one of the longest points of the match on his first match point, finishing as a deserved winner.

While he spent much of the match on the front foot, Coric also excelled in defence. According to the INSIGHTS: Steal metric, the Croatian won 41 per cent (17/41) of points from defence, well above the Tour average of 34 per cent.

With wins against Nadal and Auger-Aliassime, Coric has defeated two Top 10 players in a single tournament for the third time in his career. He will next face either Carlos Alcaraz or Cameron Norrie in Saturday’s semi-finals.

Auger-Aliassime, despite the defeat, boosted his chances this week for a debut at the Nitto ATP Finals by moving up one spot to sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin with his second straight Masters 1000 quarter-final run.

Top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury are inching closer to their second title of the season (Monte-Carlo) after handling Karen Khachanov and Denis Shapovalov 6-1, 7-6(6) Friday at the Western & Southern Open.

Should the two-time Grand Slam champions leave Cincinnati, Ohio with the trophy, the duo would rise to World No. 3 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings (currently fifth) and strengthen their claim for a spot at the eight-team Nitto ATP Finals.

On Saturday, they will look to avenge their loss earlier this season to Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who won the previous meeting in Indian Wells in a match tie-break.

Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin backed up their upset over Montreal champions Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski on Friday by ousting two-time Roland Garros champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies 6-3, 6-7(2), 10-6.

Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin have played only one other tournament together this season: Indian Wells, in which they made the final before falling to home favourites John Isner and Jack Sock.

Also in Friday’s doubles action, Tim Puetz and Michael Venus saved all four break points faced, surging to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over second seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.

Puetz and Venus, who were champions in Dubai earlier this season, will look for a spot in their fifth final of the year when they collide with either Holger Rune and Stefanos Tsitsipas or Marcelo Arevalo and Jean Julier-Rojer in the semi-finals.

Stefanos Tsitsipas reached his third consecutive Western & Southern Open semi-final on Friday, outlasting John Isner 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3 to set a popcorn clash against World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev.

In a rain-disrupted clash, the Greek weathered a storm on court as he blunted the American’s big-hitting game with heavy topspin, while he clinically took his one break chance in the third set to advance after two hours and 22 minutes in Cincinnati.

“I knew coming into the match that it is never easy playing against him,” Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview. “You have to deal with lots of different variations of play and I think the most important thing is to stay patient because there will be a lot of situations that you can’t really control. That is what I was trying to do today.

“It all came [down] to a few points at the end of that set and I was just able to hang in there and make one more ball back and not give him much to work with.”

With his 45th tour-level win of the season, the 24-year-old has improved his ATP Head2Head series record against Isner to 5-2. He will look to reach his first final at the hard-court event when he faces Medvedev on Saturday in what will be a difficult test, with the top seed leading the Greek 7-2 in their ATP Head2Head series.

“I am going to have to play my game,” Tsitsipas said looking ahead to his match against Medvedev. “I have been playing well so far. Of course an obstacle like Daniil is never easy. I am going to try and approach my game in the most precise and best manner and let my tennis do the talking.”

Tsitsipas has enjoyed strong results at ATP Masters 1000 events this season, retaining his title in Monte Carlo before he reached the semi-finals in Madrid and the championship match in Rome.

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In a hard-fought first set, both gave little away on serve, meaning a tie-break was left to decide the opener. With Tsitsipas leading 4/3, rain briefly forced the players off court. When they returned, the Greek zoned in to seal the set.

Isner refused to go away in the second set and was rewarded for his aggressive returning in the 11th game when he broke to lead, before he rallied from 0/30 to serve out the set.

In a close third set, it was Tsitsipas who found an extra gear. The fourth seed took his only break point of the match to move 5-3 ahead and then showcased mental toughness to hold from 0/30 and triumph.

Tsitsipas looked to step inside the baseline and attack for large periods of the match. As shown in his INSIGHTS: Conversion Score, the Greek (76 per cent) had a slightly higher success rate than Isner (72 per cent) when moving forward, which was the key to his victory.

Isner, who advanced to the final in Cincinnati in 2013, edged Benjamin Bonzi, Hubert Hurkacz and Sebastian Korda in three sets earlier this week to reach his first Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season.

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Tsitsipas holds a 7-1 record against Americans this season, with his one defeat coming against Jenson Brooksby in Indian Wells.

Daniil Medvedev is one of the game’s great defenders from deep behind the baseline. On Friday, he produced one of the great defensive plays of the year to steal a point – and a break of serve – from Taylor Fritz that put him on the path to victory in the quarter-finals of the Western & Southern Open.

Trying to stave off break point to avoid going down 0-2, Fritz fired a 121mph serve that stretched Medvedev nearly outside the doubles alley at the beginning of what proved to be a 24-shot rally. The American immediately found himself on offense, standing on top of the baseline for much of the rally while Medvedev was nearly in the front row of the stands, forced to lunge for several balls, but determined to stay in the point and force an error.

After Medvedev struck a backhand down-the-line, which clipped the net, the top-ranked American hit a forehand approach shot cross-court that sent Medvedev outside the TV camera’s view. At full stretch and running out of court at a rapid clip, the four-time ATP Masters 1000 champion managed to throw up a massive moon-ball lob that Fritz took as a baseline overhead.

Medvedev returned the bounced overhead and Fritz made an unforced forehand error on the next ball, perhaps going for too much in the belief that Medvedev would again track down any response that didn’t paint the line.

In his on-court interview, Medvedev enthusiastically recounted the pivotal point.

“I got a little bit unlucky with the net at first because I was going down the line. It was a pretty good shot,” Medvedev said. “I felt he was tiring in the rally, so it could be a gamechanger.

“Finally, he had an easy shot, so I just ran actually. Usually you lose nine out of 10 points like this, maybe even 19 out of 20, so I just tried to put the ball as high as possible to make it tough for him and pray the ball goes in.

“If you look at my reaction first, I thought the ball was probably going out. You can’t judge the trajectory like this, so I stopped playing. I was also really tired. But when I saw the ball dropped in, I was like ‘Okay, let’s continue’, and I managed to put the next ball in and it was enough for him to miss. Sometimes these points happen and if it is on a break point it is a great feeling.”

Medvedev, who will remain World No. 1 at least through the US Open, will play the winner of John Isner and Stefanos Tsistsipas in the semi-finals Saturday.

Daniil Medvedev’s quest for a fifth ATP Masters 1000 title moved into top gear at the Western & Southern Open Friday, when he downed Taylor Fritz 7-6(1), 6-3 to reach the semi-finals in Cincinnati.

The top seed backed up his impressive victories over Botic van de Zandschulp and Denis Shapovalov with an all-round display against the American to advance after one hour and 38 minutes.

The 26-year-old fired 32 winners as he laid blows with his racquet, while he hung tight in the key moments during their first ATP Head2Head meeting, saving three set points in the first set to improve to 9-3 in Masters 1000 quarter-finals.

Medvedev suffered a disappointing second-round defeat against Nick Kyrgios in Montreal last week. However, he has found his rhythm in Cincinnati and is now 14-4 at the hard-court event.

“Cincinnati fast courts and fast balls and I have always liked it. But always tricky matches, especially between two great servers,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “I feel like me and Taylor served good, even if we aren’t John [Isner] maybe! I knew that it was going to be a tight match.

“The first set he was on top of me a little bit. He had many more chances than I did on my serve, but I managed to stay in. There were some set points where I could have missed and no one would have talked about it, it would have been normal. But I managed to stay in the set and that helped me win the match.”

Medvedev lifted his maiden Masters 1000 trophy at the event in 2019, before he enjoyed a run to the semi-finals last season. He will look to continue his strong record in Ohio when he faces Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas or American John Isner in the last four.

The 2020 Nitto ATP Finals champion, who is assured of retaining his No. 1 status in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings until at least through the US Open, is aiming to capture his second title of the year and 14th crown on hard overall. The four-times Masters 1000 champion won the trophy in Los Cabos last month, while he reached finals at the Australian Open, ‘s-Hertogenbosch and in Halle.

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In front of a lively American crowd, both came out swinging as Fritz looked to penetrate Medvedev’s defence with his flat groundstrokes. The 11th seed returned with great depth throughout and had three set points in the set on Medvedev’s serve. However, the top seed stayed consistent from the baseline to save one at 4-5 and two more at 5-6, before he raced away in the tie-break to lead.

Medvedev was locked in at the start of the second set and won a mammoth rally to clinch an early break. The 26-year-old acted as a brick wall from the baseline as he covered the ground to hang in the point. He threw up a huge lob, which to his surprise dropped in, before Fritz eventually hit a forehand wide, with Medvedev raising his arms in celebration. The top seed then stayed solid on serve to triumph.

Medvedev now holds a 20-6 record in tie-breaks at Masters 1000 events. A record he is proud of.

“That is great because tie-breaks are a fine thing. We call it a lottery and I do think it is this way a little bit. I remember when I had the crazy run in 2019. I think someone told me once that I won a lot of tie-breaks in a row,” Medvedev said. “I don’t know if it was eight or 12, so I was like, ‘That is cool.’ I just try to do my best and win every point. You win some and lose some. But 20-6 is a good record, so I am happy about it.”

The 11th seed Fritz was aiming to reach his second Masters 1000 semi-final of the season, after soaring to the title in Indian Wells in March. The 24-year-old is currently 10th in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin as he looks to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time.