Thursday 26 February 2015 20:10, UK
Andy Murray was left humbled in Dubai by a little-known 18-year-old named Borna Coric, but the Croatian's impressive performance has put him on the path for tennis super stardom.
Coric is one of the ATP World Tour's rising stars and the youngest inside the top 100 at 84th. After claiming the US Open junior title in 2013 - and losing to Andy Murray in the Davis Cup the following week - he picked up his first Tour win on home soil in Umag in July.
The teenager then achieved the biggest win of his career, beating Rafael Nadal in the Swiss Indoors quarter-final in Basel in October.
He backed up hugely-impressive wins over Ernests Gulbis and Andrey Golubev in the previous rounds with a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) victory against his boyhood hero. "It's unbelievable for me," said the then world No 124 after the win. "I just want to enjoy the moment. I'm just so surprised and it's an unbelievable feeling."
That run offered emphatic proof of his potential, despite his loss to in-form Belgian David Goffin in the last four. At 6ft 1in tall and 174 lbs (12st 5lbs) Coric has all the physical attributes to become a boxer, but after climbing an impressive 276 places to world No 90 during 2014 he will be glad to have chosen tennis as he preferred sport. The ATP Star of Tomorrow also won his first Challenger event in Izmir as well as making the semi-final in Tashkent
He qualified for his first Grand Slam tournament at the US Open where, after defeating 29th-seeded Czech Lukas Rosol, he lost out to 34-year-old Estrella Burgos from the Dominican Republic in round two.
In 2015 there's been a first round loss at the Australian Open to Jeremy Chardy in four sets, with defeats to Stan Wawrinka and Gilles Simon along the way before taking his greatest scalp this year against Murray.
Sky Sports Tennis expert Barry Cowan was impressed by the youngster:
"Coric is way above his age in terms of his intensity and focus. That’s what strikes a chord with a lot of people involved in the sport. He can still improve a lot of areas of his game, but the mentality is very, very impressive. You knew he wasn’t going to choke, he’s fearless.”
But the biggest achievement of his victory over world No.3? Young Coric gets to play Roger Federer at in the Dubai semi-finals; the student meets the master...
Watch the Dubai Tennis Championship semi-finals including Coric v Federer live on Sky Sports 3 from 1pm on Friday February 27.
