Coric, Tiafoe Lead #NextGen Charge

#NextGen stars Borna Coric and Frances Tiafoe made strong starts to their respective BNP Paribas Open campaigns on Thursday. Coric downed Lucas Pouille 6-2, 7-5 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, while Tiafoe claimed the all-American #NextGen battle with Taylor Fritz 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.

The 19-year-old Coric and 18-year-olds Tiafoe and Fritz are part of the ATP’s Next Generation campaign of budding stars aged 21 and under. Coric won 73 per cent of his service points and broke the Frenchman four times as he raced to victory in 80 minutes. He reached the second round in Indian Wells last year as a qualifier on debut and will next face Brazilian No. 29 seed Thomaz Bellucci. 

In the all-American clash, Tiafoe struck nine aces on his way past Fritz in one hour and 37 minutes. He next meets No. 15 seed David Goffin of Belgium.

Another #NextGen hopeful, Kyle Edmund, was not so fortunate. The Brit went down to Argentina’s Guido Pella 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-5 Pella’s countrymen Leonardo Mayer and Federico Delbonis also joined the winners’ list on day one.

Mayer advanced to a second-round clash with 20^th seed Viktor Troicki after he defeated Sam Groth 6-4, 6-3, limiting the big-serving Australian to just five aces. Delbonis set a clash with Joao Sousa after beating Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 7-6(5).

Two other Argentines, Renzo Olivo and Diego Schwartzman, did not advance. Frenchman Nicolas Mahut had a 6-2, 6-4 victory over qualifier Olivo, while Dutchman Robin Haase posted a 6-3, 6-4 result against Schwartzman.

Milos Raonic will open his campaign against Inigo Cervantes, who won an all-Spanish clash with Nicolas Almagro 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in just under two hours. Pablo Carreno Busta joined his Spanish compatriot in the second round after a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Russian Evgeny Donskoy.

Later on day one men’s action, 2013 runner-up Juan Martin del Potro takes to Stadium 1 to face American qualifier Tim Smyczek.