Borna Coric is again proving he’s in this for the long haul after a third straight three-set victory to reach the Miami Open presented by Itau quarter-finals, this time over #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov. After a semi-final run in Indian Wells, the 29th seed is through to his second straight ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final with the 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-4 victory.

Brimming with confidence after his run in Indian Wells, where he narrowly fell short against Roger Federer, Coric was more consistent than his 18-year-old opponent to take the opening-set tie-break 7/2. Shapovalov, coming off his best win this season over No. 11 seed Sam Querrey in the third round, found his spark when he picked off a backhand pass from a short approach to bring up three break points at 2-2 in the second set. He converted and despite letting the Croatian back into the set, he closed out the final two games of the set to send the match into a decider.  

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Coric, a qualifier at last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, had survived a two-hour, 56-minute clash to defeat Leonardo Mayer in the second round before a two-hour, 49-minute battle to see off No. 8 seed Jack Sock on Monday. This match – a two-hour, 17-minute showdown – seemed almost efficient in comparison. 

The Croatian claimed a 33-shot rally to edge ahead 5-4 in the third set against Shapovalov before the Canadian blinked, sending down three double faults to gift two match points. 
Coric sealed his second FedEx ATP Head2Head victory in as many meetings between the pair and awaits the winner of Tuesday night’s match between fourth seed Alexander Zverev and 17th seed Nick Kyrgios.

American John Isner arrived at Crandon Park on a three-match losing streak, with just two wins on the season. But no matter what happens the rest of the tournament, the No. 14 seed will leave the site with a renewed sense of confidence —beating the World No. 3 can do that.

Isner did not face a break point in ousting second seed Marin Cilic 7-6(0), 6-3 in 87 minutes at the Miami Open presented by Itau Tuesday, his third win of this event alone.

It looked like the big server — Isner is now just 76 aces from becoming the fourth player in history to reach 10,000 — was on the verge of another disappointing loss in his opener against Jiri Vesely, as he lost the second set. But ever since, the World No. 17 has won five sets in a row to make his second Miami quarter-final. His best result at the event came three years ago when he advanced to the semi-finals before losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. 

Just 13 points went against serve in the first 12 games of the match, and the ensuing first-set tie-break would prove crucial. Isner, who had won just two of seven tie-breaks this year, posted a shutout and used that momentum to earn his best victory of the season, earning his third triumph in 10 tries in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Cilic.

The 32-year-old will next face an in-form Hyeon Chung, who defeated Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-4, 6-3 in 68 minutes to reach his sixth quarter-final of the season and his second at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level (also 2018 BNP Paribas Open).

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Last November, Chung arrived at the Next Gen ATP Finals having not reached a tour-level quarter-final since August (Winston-Salem). But after leaving Milan as an undefeated champion, the South Korean has not looked back.

The 21-year-old is now 23-6 since arriving in Italy for that season-ending event, and he has not dropped serve in his 27 service games at Crandon Park. Only one player has won more matches than Chung in 2018 (18): Juan Martin del Potro (19), who is also in the Round of 16 in Florida.

Isner leads Chung 2-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, with two of those matches coming in the past year — the South Korean snuck past the veteran this year in Auckland while Isner won at the 2017 US Open.

Did You Know?
Isner was 2-5 in tie-breaks this season before shutting Cilic out in Tuesday’s first-set tie-break.