Saturday 28 February 2015 10:44, UK
Teenager Borna Coric produced a performance beyond his years to shock world No 3 Andy Murray 6-1 6-3 at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Thursday.
At 84 in the world, Coric is the youngest player in the top 100, and after beating Rafael Nadal at the Swiss Open last October, he achieved arguably an even greater feat by defeating Murray with a composed, professional display to reach his second tour semi-final.
I made way too many mistakes from the beginning of the match right through to the end, early in rallies, rushing points.
Afterwards Murray praised Coric's performance, admitting that his slow start to the match had ultimately cost him.
"He didn't make many errors," Murray told the official ATP website. "He played very solid and he moved well.
"I made way too many mistakes from the beginning of the match right through to the end, early in rallies, rushing points.
"(It was) quite similar to the match I played against (Gilles) Simon in Rotterdam, which is disappointing."
The opening set included a scintialting 41-shot rally which Murray won, but that was about as good as it got for the former Wimbledon champion.
Speedy 18-year-old Coric went on to break the British No 1's serve three times, winning 31 points, while an out-of-sorts Murray made 27 unforced errors – he ended the match with 55 in total.
Lucky loser Coric made it to the quarter-finals after Marcos Baghdatis retired with cramp in a final set tie-break after almost three hours on court, while Murray dismantled Joao Sousa for the loss of two games to set up a first ATP Tour meeting with the youngster.
But Murray, who beat his opponent in a Davis Cup match two years ago, was being completely outplayed on the hard court.
Former US Open junior champion Coric was playing some inspired tennis and crucially broke in the sixth game of the second set with a stunning lob before holding his nerve on serve to close out a famous win for the loss of just four games in one hour and 19 minutes.
"It's one of the biggest wins of my life," said a half-disbelieving Coric. "I had no game plan because he doesn't have any weak spots. I was just trying to maintain the level and stay in the rally as long as I could. I was doing good and I was also running very good. That was some of the game plan!"
"I am still struggling with the best players when they play well, and Andy was not at his best today."
The teenager's reward for claiming Murray's scalp is a semi-final match against Roger Federer after the world No 2 successfully overcame Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
Watch action from the Dubai Tennis Championships on Sky Sports 3 all this week.
