UMAG, July 18, 2019

The bottom half of the singles draw was in second round action on Thursday at the 30th Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag. Second seed and local favourite Borna Coric lost his first ATP Tour match on home soil since reaching the stage of the final eight in 2015 Umag in three sets to Italian qualifier Salvatore Caruso.

The World No. 125 from Avola broke Coric’s serve five times to seal a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory in one hour and 44 minutes.

Upset complete! 👍

Italian qualifier Salvatore Caruso notches his biggest career win 6-2 3-6 6-1 over World No.14 Borna Coric at @CroatiaOpenUmag. pic.twitter.com/KVAg8cvDen

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) July 18, 2019

Coric, who surpassed Marin Cilic for top-ranked Croatian status after Roland Garros, but was forced to retire from his most recent match against Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert at Halle, where the 22-year-old was defending champion after beating Roger Federer in the 2018 final. Coric then withdrew from Wimbledon due to an abdominal injury.

“I didn’t really feel the balls at the beginning. I was also a bit slow on the court and my reaction was not there,” Coric said after his first match following the grass-court swing. “Salvatore is a great player, especially on clay. I watched him playing at the French Open and he is much better than his ranking is showing. He was also the better player today.”

Coric, however, could also see some positives. “I am back. I felt good on court today and didn’t feel any pain. That’s the most important thing. Unfortunately I couldn’t win this match in front of my home crowd. I enjoyed playing today. The atmosphere was unbelievable and gave me some extra motivation.”

The World No. 14 was not sure how his schedule for the next couple of weeks will look like. “I need to speak to my coach tomorrow morning. We need to see how my body is going to react after this match today. We have been practicing a lot for the last three weeks but we need to see if I need some rest again,” Coric said.

Caruso will stay in Istria taking on Facundo Bagnis in the quarterfinals. The 29-year-old Argentine remained untroubled during his 6-3, 6-3 win over Croatian wild card entry Nino Serdarusic.

Lajovic beats Rublev

Earlier in the day, Dusan Lajovic of Serbia knocked off 2017 titlist Andrey Rublev, winning 6-4, 6-3. The No. 4 seed broke the Russian’s serve three times to advance after 69 minutes. Lajovic, who has posted a career-best result this year by reaching his first ATP Tour final at the ATP Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo, will next take on Aljaz Bedene.

The Slovenian defeated Italian teenager Jannik Sinner 7-6(3), 6-3 on his 30th birthday. Bedene served the match out only few moments past midnight after one hour and 47 minutes. The 17-year-old from South Tyrol, who started the year outside the Top 500, will crack the Top 200 after this week in Umag.

Photo Gallery (by Florian Heer)