Madrid [Spain], May 4 : Borna Coric ended Del Altmaier's dream run at the Madrid Open as the 17th seed eliminated his German opponent 6-3, 6-3 to set a semi-final clash against top seed and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Coric's experience on the big stage showed at the Manolo Santana Stadium as he registered victory in the quarterfinal in a match that lasted for one hour and 14 minutes.
Appearing in the Madrid quarter-finals for the second time, Coric took full advantage of his opportunity. The Zagreb native dominated behind his first serve and did not face a break point against his German opponent.
Altmaier had one main draw Masters 1000 victory on his record before he arrived in the Spsh city, and that victory came against Jurij Rodionov in the final round of qualification. The 24-year-old, though, who was drawn as a lucky loser, advanced to the quarterfinals without dropping a set.
However, he had trouble staying consistent early on against Coric from the baseline, and that cost him. Altmaier struggled to gain the upper hand after giving up the opening break of the game with a double fault at 1-2. The Croatian's service games in the first set were never really under much strain from the German, despite his powerful one-handed backhand and deep return stance.
As the match went on, that changed as Altmaier was able to apply pressure to Coric's forehand, which was the less reliable of the 17th seed's groundstrokes. But after getting a break early on, the three-time ATP Tour champion hit some accurate shots, including a lovely backhand lob to save a match at 3-2 40/40.
"I always love to play here in Madrid. I have very, very nice memories from here and I knew I could play well. I came here very early to prepare myself for the tournament, as it's, I would say, a little bit different to the next tournaments. I'm just very happy to be in the semi-finals," ATP.com quoted Coric as saying in his on-court interview.
Coric won 90% of the points he served first, and he will look to continue that trend against Alcaraz, who he will face for the first time.
"He's absolutely an unbelievable player in unbelievable shape in the moment as well. So he's the favourite and I'm going to just go out there and I'm going to enjoy himself. I like to play here in this stadium and it's going to be a very cool feeling for sure," Coric said.
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