Croatia’s Borna Coric defeated fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 7-6 (0), 6-2 in the Western & Southern Open final in Mason, Ohio.

It was the first ATP Masters 1000 title for Coric, who was participating in his first tour-level final in two years.

The 25-year-old’s path to the championship was anything but easy, as he had to topple a number of challenging opponents that included Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Roberto Bautista Agut, and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime.

“Thank you to my parents, who are not here, my sister and my team. It has been very tough for us,” said Coric, who came to Cincinnati on a protected ranking after missing a good portion of last season with a shoulder injury. “Then of course to my tennis coach, Mate. We have been working very hard and now we are here.”

Coric showed great resilience in the first set, trailing 3-0 and 4-1 before surging back to force a tiebreak, where he eventually dominated Tsitsipas.

“It was a very, very tough match. At the beginning, I wasn’t playing very well and he was pushing me very hard,” Coric said. “Then in the second set, I thought I played the best set of the whole year.”

Winston-Salem Open

Australians Christopher O’Connell and Jason Kubler both won their second-round qualifying matches on Sunday in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Sixth-seeded O’Connell defeated top-seeded Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4), while Kubler, who is the No. 5 seed, swept Hungarian No. 2 seed Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 6-0.

While it may have been a good day for the Aussies, it was a completely different story for the Japanese duo of No. 3 seed Taro Daniel and eighth-seeded Shintaro Mochizuki.

Daniel fell to seventh-seeded American Emilio Nava 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the only second-round qualifying match that went three sets, and Mochizuki lost to No. 4 seed Marc-Andrea Huesler of Switzerland 6-2, 6-4.

In matches that were in the round of 64, France’s Richard Gasquet edged Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak 6-7 (5), 6-2, 1-0 before Majchrzak retired in the third set. South Korean Soonwoo Kwon and Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro were also victorious in their matches.

The nightcap pinned Australia’s John Millman against Frenchman Hugo Gaston, and Millman took care of business rather easily, pulling out a 6-2, 6-3 win. Laslo Djere of Serbia had a harder time with Belgium’s David Goffin, but still came out on top in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 decision.

–Field Level Media