This content was published 5 years ago. It may refer to a past edition of the Internazionali d’Italia.

Borna Coric came through a tough three set encounter against Canadian teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime to record his first match-win at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

The world No. 15, who had lost his only previous meeting with Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-finals at Miami earlier this year, won 6-7(4) 6-3 6-4 in two hours 29 minutes to set up a second round encounter against either Australia’s John Millman or British qualifier Cameron Norrie.

It was the Croatian who got off to the better start in the opening set, moving up a break at 3-2 thanks to a poor service game from Auger-Aliassime which included two double faults. Thirteen straight points put Coric two points away from a 5-2 lead when the Canadian regrouped and upped his game, holding for 4-3 and then capitalising in the very next game to recover the break when the No. 13 seed played a loose service game.

A tiebreak ensued and it was Auger-Aliassime who came out on top much to the dismay of Coric who for so long had looked in control of the opening set and had been the more consistent player.

A shift of momentum followed at the start of the second set, Coric breaking in the first game when a cross-court forehand winner caught the line. The Croatian had points for a 4-0 lead in what was a very one-sided start to the set but the 18-year-old eventually held to trail by just the one break. Coric refused to let his lead slip this time and levelled the score with a backhand up the line on his fifth set point.

Coric continued in the same vein in the decider, breaking the world No. 30 in the first game. He dropped just five points on his serve all set and showed considerable mental strength to secure victory against one of the game’s rising stars.