Coric Stays Cool Under Pressure, Advances In Winston-Salem

Top seed Borna Coric held his nerve in key moments Tuesday to reach the third round of the Winston-Salem Open.

The Croatian defeated Rinky Hijikata 6-2, 7-6(2), after two hours, three minutes. Coric fended off 12 of 13 break points he faced and stayed consistent in the second-set tie-break to advance at the ATP 250.

“[Rinky] was really playing great today and I thought in the first set I was playing some good tennis,” Coric said in his on-court interview. “In the second set, he served much better. I was just playing better and I played a really good tie-break.”

Coric, who is World No. 29 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, is aiming for his first tour-level title since his dream run at last year’s ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati. Coric is making his third appearance in Winston-Salem, having reached the quarter-finals in 2015 and 2017.

The 26-year-old will next meet American wild card Michael Mmoh, who ousted 13th seed Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-4. Mmoh swung freely from the baseline and worked his way forward to improve to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against his countryman Giron.

"I thought I played a great match from start to finish," Mmoh said. "Marcos is a great player, we've had some good battles in the past. I knew it was going to be a tricky one, but I was happy with the way I executed my game plan. I'm excited to come back out tomorrow night."

Coric led the way for the Top 5 seeds in Winston-Salem on Tuesday, as all five advanced to the third round. Second seed Tallon Griekspoor advanced after Jack Draper retired when the Dutchman led 7-6(8).

Third seed Sebastian Korda cruised past Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi 6-2, 6-3. Fourth seed Laslo Djere defeated Facundo Diaz Acosta 6-3, 6-3. Fifth seed Jiri Lehecka rallied from a set down to beat qualifier Mitchell Krueger 2-6, 6-2. 6-3.