By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday August 20, 2022
Stefanos Tsitsipas edged Daniil Medvedev to set an unlikely final with Croatia's Borna Coric in Cincinnati.
Photo Source: Getty
After several hours of rain delays at the Western and Southern Open on Saturday, the semifinals came fast and furious as day turned to night in Cincinnati.
When all was said and done the betting favorites were out and a pair of underdogs – Croatia’s Borna Coric and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas – are slated to meet for the title.
Coric, the World No.152 that has raised eyebrows all week in Ohio, was the first to go through. The 25-year-old has parlayed his upset of Rafael Nadal in the second round into a run to his second career Masters 1000 final, and his first since 2018.
On the mend after a debilitating shoulder surgery in 2021, the former World No.12 hasn’t just reached the final. He has also put himself back in the Top-50. After his 6-3, 6-4 takedown of No.9-seeded Cameron Norrie on Saturday he is assured a ranking of at least 48 in Monday’s ATP rankings.
If he wins the title he’ll make it inside the Top-30.
But to do that he’ll have to get past a surging Tsitsipas. The No.4-seeded Greek, the ATP's win leader with 46 in 2022, will be high on confidence after notching a rare hard court victory over Daniil Medvedev. Tsitsipas entered the semifinals with a 1-6 lifetime record against the Russian on hard courts (and 2-7 overall), but he employed a steady diet of serve-and-volley to win a hiqh quality opening set and then locked down his victory after a Medvedev double-fault handed him a 4-2 lead in the decider.
It wasn’t a perfect victory for Tsitsipas, who went on walkabout while falling behind 5-0 in the second set after squeaking through a first-set breaker, but his willingness to own the mid-court and his excellence at the net put him over the finish line.
Tsitsipas and Coric have split their two previous meetings, but it was Coric who took their last meeting when he saved six match points to tackle the Greek at the 2020 US Open, 6-7(2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(4).
Much has transpired for Coric since then, and he really hasn’t been a factor on tour since his shoulder surgery – until this week. But he has been brilliant in Cincinnati, taking out four Top-15 seeds (No.2 Nadal, No.15 Bautista Agut, No.7 Auger-Aliassime and No.9 Norrie) to reach the final.