Dubai: Fifth seed Richard Gasquet went down to Next Gen star Borna Coric as second-seeded Lucas Pouille waltzed through in straight sets against qualifier Ernests Gulbis on the second day of the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open, on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old Coric, who made it to the semi-final of the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals held in Milan in November last year, had made an impressive debut in Dubai in 2015 by knocking out Andy Murray. That win must have been at the back of his mind as the Croatian managed his game well against an opponent who was playing with an injured knee before winning 6-4, 6-3 in 73 minutes.
Coric, who now lives in Dubai, will now take on another Frenchman Benoit Paire, who had battled his way past Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka in three sets late on Monday.
Coric was relieved to get through to the next round. “It was a very tricky match. I knew he was semi-injured. I didn’t know what to expect. I was really just trying to focus on myself. I know many people say that, but I was really, really trying to do that because otherwise I could get lost in the match,” he said.
“I was just trying to be aggressive, trying just to move him as much as possible, not to play only in one place. He did come back in both sets and it was a pretty good effort from him, especially because he was injured. But I managed to stay calm. I didn’t panic and that’s good,” he added.
Though he came up with some big wins in the past, the Croat admitted that he had not lived up to the high expectations. “I have not developed the way I expected to. I’m a much better player now than when I was then. If I look at myself three years ago, when I was No. 33 in the world, it’s just not realistic. I was not there. It was actually not a very good thing for me to happen because I stopped working on some things. I got stuck. I didn’t play so well,” Coric admitted.
“I got some injuries. I had surgery on my knee and I couldn’t finish the year. That stopped me, as well, for sure. But this is tennis, that’s the life. In general, I think basically I just stopped working on my game, on certain things, and I was not improving,” he added.
Later in the evening it was business as usual for Pouille as he got past qualifier Gulbis in exactly the same time. Runner-up to Karen Khachanov in Marseille on Sunday, Pouille broke in the fifth game to take the set 6-4 in 32 minutes. In the second set, the early break came once again but Gulbis broke back in the sixth to draw level at 3-3. However, the world No. 15 broke a second time and served off the set (6-4) and match in 79 minutes.
“Adapting to the outdoors can be tough, but I am glad I’ve got past the first round,” Pouille said as he readied for a possible rematch against Khachanov on Wednesday.
The Frenchman lost to Khachanov in the final of the Marseille Open and Pouille was keen on a rematch to settle scores. “It would be nice to have my revenge,” he said.
Results
Singles
Borna Coric bt Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-3
Jan-Lennard Struff bt Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-2, 6-4
Filip Krajinovic bt Thomas Fabbiano 0-6, 6-2, 6-2
Lucas Pouille bt Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-4
Pierre-Hugues Herbert bt Joao Sousa 4-6, 6-4, 7-6
Doubles
Robin Haase/Matwe Middelkoop bt Jan-Lennard Struff/Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-4
Ivan Dodig/Rajeev Ram bt Marcel Granollers/Nenad Zimonjic 6-7, 6-2, 1-0
