Rafael Nadal loses against Borna Ćorić in Cincinnati on return from injury
Updated
Rafael Nadal has lost his first match of the season for the Cincinnati Open, being beaten by the former world No. 2 Borna Ćorić in 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Nadal, seeded second in Cincinnati, came into the tournament having won all four of his previous tournament matches in the ATP World Tour Finals, which starts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden next week.
“I’m obviously frustrated, of course,” he said in pre-match press conference. “I came into the tournament as the favourite so I was looking forward to it. But I couldn’t manage it in the beginning.”
He got off to a great start in Cincinnati, beating David Goffin with three consecutive aces, the first time he had done that since the Davis Cup final in Brisbane against Federer in 2008.
However, Ćorić, a former world No. 3, then had the confidence to break Nadal after holding serve for the first set. At 4-1 down in game two, he broke Nadal on his fifth match point, having just held serve with his second aces of the match.
“He played really well, especially his first two games. He was serving well. I’m more excited that he will play in Indian Wells. I think he is one of the best players in the world,” his coach Yitzhak Katz said in a press conference earlier in the day.
“He was playing very well and in control with his groundstrokes. He was serving very well, very nicely, but he still lost the first set. He had a better day than me. When you lose a set against someone who’s as good as he is, it’s very difficult to win the next set, of course.”
Ćorić had beaten No. 13 Dominic Th
