Coric edges past Anderson, reaches first Masters 1000 semis

Croatia's Borna Coric rallied for a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) victory over South African Kevin Anderson in the quarter-final action at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament here.

With the win on Thursday, the 21-year-old rising star booked a berth in the semi-finals of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event for the first time in his career, reports Efe.

The match began like the players' three previous encounters, with Anderson dominating on serve and Coric making costly unforced errors on his own service games.

But Coric tightened up his game in the second set, staving off the lone break he faced and forcing a decider on the strength of one service break.

The ninth-ranked Anderson then seemed to have the match in hand when he grabbed an early break in the third set, but the Croatian rallied once more to get the break back and send the contest to a deciding tie-breaker.

Coric won all five of his service points and earned two mini-breaks in the tie-break, clinching victory in two hours and 22 minutes when one last ground stroke by Anderson sailed over the baseline.

The South African, who had won all three previous matches against his 49th-ranked opponent, served 16 aces but was unable to win key service points down the final stretch.

Next up against Coric in Saturday's semi-finals of this hard-court event will be five-time champion Roger Federer.

--IANS

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