Borna Coric stunned by Hyeon Chung on Day 1 of Chennai Open

As former Junior No 1 Coric crashed out in straight sets 3-6, 5-7 to South Korean qualifier Hyeon Chung, the Indian duo also saw similar fate to Johan Brunstroem and Andreas Siljestroem of Sweden to lose 2-6, 4-6.

The Croatian Coric who had reached the Cincinnati Masters in 2016, had suffered a knee injury in September and was making his first appearance on the court since then. However, he maintained that his knee is fine and there are no psychological daemons to deal with as far as the fitness is concerned.

Coric endured disappointing start to the first set to be broken thrice and breaking back once. In the second set, which was going to serve, the Croatian earned the break at a crucial juncture in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead. But instead of forcing the third set, Coric found his serve broken twice in a row.

Ranked 48 in the world, Coric played a strong point when facing match point but as his volley sailed narrowly wide, the curtains were drawn on the comeback. Later he said that he was let down by his own serving that he needs to work on. And numbers back that up – he would be broken five times by Chung and have a miserable 61% first serves land in with 56% points won on the first serve.

In other singles matches on the day, another up and coming player Daniil Medvedev would upstage Thiago Monteiro 6-3, 6-3. There were also commiserations for Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur and Portugal’s Gastao Elias who would lose to Dudi Sela and Jozef Kovalik respectively.

Belgium’s Steve Darcis, made popular by his stunning win over Rafa Nadal at 2013 Wimbledon, didn’t have any trouble dispatching qualifier Nikola Mektic with a 6-2, 6-3 scoreline.