US Open: Petra Martic & Borna Coric open with first round wins 

Petra Martic (Photo credit: Mario Ćužić/HTS)

NEW YORK, 26 August 2019 – The first two Croatian players in first round action at the US Open on Monday has recorded victories. 

First up on court on Monday was Croatia highest-ranked women’s player, Petra Martic (28), and for the first time in 8 years she has managed to advance through to the second round. 

Martic, who is the tournament’s 22nd seed, beat Slovenian Tamara Zidansek in the first round in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in just over two hours.

One break was enough to give Martic the opening set, before Zidansek came back to level the match taking the second set. The Croatian raced out to a 4-0 lead on the final set before closing the set and the match. 

Martic hit five aces in the match and had a first serve percentage of 58. She managed to win five break-points from the 13 she created. In the second round Martic will face Romanian Ana Bogdan. Bogdan, who was a qualifier, is ranked 152nd on the ATP rankings.  

12th seed Borna Coric made light work of his first round match against Russian qualifier Jevgenij Donskoj. The Croatian would win the opening set in a tie-break before running away with the match 7-6, 6-3, 6-0.