Thursday review by Goran Ivanišević
We got what we wanted. Borna Ćorić has taken the first two obstacles and reached the quarter-finals. Against Aljaž Bedene he did not play his best tennis, but he was good enough to win in two sets. In such conditions, this is very important. It wasn't a hard match so against Roberto Bautista-Agut he will be in nearly optimal condition.
Against Bedene he has shown that he can win against Top 100 players and even without playing great tennis, which is great to know for such a young player. What I have been repeating since the beginning of the tournament can be said on the eve of the match against Bautista - everyone who thinks he can beat Borna in these conditions, will have to work really, really hard.
After Borna the central court hosted Gael Monfils, who is incredible. He showed again how much he means to the tournament and that it is completely irrelevant how he is ranked. Before the tournament, from time to time the question has been raised why there are no Top 15 players, and Gael is better for this tournament than many better-ranked players. He delighted us in the exhibition event and yesterday against the surprise of the tournament, the Austrian Trinker he had time for a show during the match (flying tennis!), and also after the match finished (he danced to the delight of the viewers). Against Philipp Kohlschreiber, who plays great in Umag, he will not have much space for exhibitions...
Dušan Lajović showed us today how tough tennis can be. The boy flew halfway around the world and came to Umag after the Davis Cup in Argentina, but today he ran out of energy. Thiem has warmed up for the quarter-finals against his compatriot Haider-Maurer, whose victory over Kližan looked only on paper as a surprise. Haider-Maurer is a very solid tennis player, he plays best on clay and Thiem, who is the favorite, will not have an easy task.
Congratulations also to Marin Draganja, who together with the Finn Kontinen keeps on winning. They had a very difficult match against Bautista and Marrero, but were able to play steady. Marin is developing great and showing that in the years to come he will be an important part of the Croatian Davis Cup team.
