Borna Coric and Caroline Garcia claim surprise Masters titles in Cincinnati

Borna Coric continued his remarkable comeback from injury by securing the Western & Southern Open title, beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Cincinnati final. The Croatian, who began the week with a world ranking of No 152, was joined in the winners’ circle by Caroline Garcia, who won the women’s title as a qualifier.

Returning after surgery on his right shoulder last year, Coric only returned to the ATP Tour in March. In the tournament via a protected ranking, the Croatian defeated Rafael Nadal, Félix Auger-Aliassime and Cameron Norrie on his run to the final, before a 7-6 (0), 6-2 victory over the fourth seed Tsitsipas on Sunday.

Tsitsipas had beaten the world No 1, Daniil Medvedev, in his semi-final and carried that momentum into the final, breaking Coric at the first opportunity on the way to a 4-1 lead. Coric broke back in the eighth game of the set as the first set went to a tie-break. The Greek double-faulted on the opening point and never recovered, his opponent taking the breaker 7-0.

Coric kept the world No 7 under pressure in the second set, Tsitsipas offering up another double-fault to hand his opponent another break. With dark storm clouds gathering, the underdog moved quickly to seal victory, holding and then breaking Tsitsipas again to close out the match.

His first ATP title since 2018 sees Coric jump up the rankings to No 29, and earn a seeding for the US Open, which starts on 29 August. “I didn’t believe I was going to win the tournament,” the 25-year-old Coric said.

“I never look too much forward. I’m always focused on the next round. I was just believing that I can win the next match. That’s what I did for five days in a row.”

“I think he was serving well,” Tsitsipas said. “He was making me move a lot.