Coric upsets Federer to win the title in Halle

By
Mark Hall
-

Surprise, surprise.

Roger Federer was the hot favorite to win his 10th title in Halle after a fantastic week in Stuttgart, but things went sideways from for the Swiss.

It was clear from the very first rounds that Roger was not in his “sublime form” in German after he never shined in any matches before the final. Actually, the world no.1 made an incredible escape in the 3rd round after he defeated Benoit Paire after saving 2 match points.

The final

Roger was opposed to an in-form Borna Coric that surprised already the seed no.2 Sascha Zverev in the second round after conceding just 5 games to the German.

The final was quite weird. In fact, even if Roger was struggling with his baseline shots, he was clearly superior in the first set when he conceded only 2 points on his serve while Coric was often struggling. Eventually, the opener when to the tiebreak and Federer wasn’t able to convert 2 consecutive set points while leading 6-4.  Instead, he lost 4 consecutive points to lose the breaker at 6.

In the second set Roger kept on dictating easily on his serve, and the difference between him and Borna was only a break in the 8th game after Coric missed a horrible volley.

The third set was a horror story for Roger also because Coric became much more stable with his serve. The crucial moment of the match was the 6 game. In fact, after Federer was leading 30-15, he lost 3 consecutive points on 3 successive challenges to find himself 2-4 down and without any challenge left. After Borna held the following game at 15, Federer was broken again after leading 40-15. That was the end with Coric winning the match 7-6 (6) 3-6 6-2.

This is Coric’s 2nd career title after Marrakech 2017. Many more to come.

 


A NEW FACE IN HALLE!     
                                 
Embed from Getty Images


Embed from Getty Images