MARRAKECH, April 9, 2016
A new Grand Prix Hassan II champion will be crowned on Sunday, as debutant and third seed Borna Coric will take on the tournament’s number four Federico Delbonis in the title match.
Borna Coric
Coric overcame Jiri Vesely in the semis, winning two tie-breaks. Both players lost their service two times and the 19-year-old Croat withstood eight aces, hitting six of his own. Coric was solid from the baseline but also benefited from Vesely producing one double fault in each tie-break. The teenager secured the 7-6, 7-6 victory in one hour and 57 minutes to advance to his second ATP career final, after he finished runner-up to Stan Wawrinka in Chennai at the beginning of the season.
Coric spoke to the journalists after the match: Coric SF Marrakech 2016
Federico Delbonis has reached his first final on the ATP World Tour in two years
Delbonis gained his third victory over Albert Montanes in as many meetings with the Spaniard, winning 6-4, 6-3. The 25-year-old Argentine sent down five aces and capitalized on three of his five break point chances to advance to his first final since Nice 2014. The encounter lasted one hour and 18 minutes.
“I am happy with my performance today. I served very well and I am also pleased with my return game,” Delbonis told afterwards.
“All of the matches were difficult here, as this is my first tournament of the season on clay. Now I am in the final and that’s a great achievement. This is an ATP 250 event with very good players in the draw.
“It’s my second time here. I haven’t had so much time to visit here a lot, but the city seems to be very nice. The hospitality is fantastic,” the world number 47 said and will spend the evening without anything special in terms of preparation for Sunday’s climax.
“I just try to rest and eat well. I will enjoy the rest of the day in order to be ready for tomorrow’s final.”
Earlier the day, Máximo González and Guillermo Duran captured their first team title, winning the doubles final 6-2, 3-6, 10-6 against Marin Draganja and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi in one hour and 21 minutes.
Moroccan experience for doubles champions Máximo González and Guillermo Duran
“We started well into the match, were very focused and were lucky to gain the opening set pretty easily. We capitalized on the deciding points, which is essential in doubles and so we were able to win the match tie-break and the tournament,” González told Tennis TourTalk, after the two Argentines had finished a photo marathon.
“Of course we are very satisfied with this week. It is a beautiful place here, which I didn’t really expect with delicious food. The organization was really good,” Duran added and it might be an option for the Argentines to team-up at Roland Garros as well. The team leave with €25,070 in prize money and 250 ATP ranking points.
