Daily Times

MONACO: Federico Delbonis has claimed his second ATP title after blasting his way past Croatia’s Borna Coric 6-2, 6-4, in the final of the Grand Prix Hassan II. The 25-year-old, who was seeded fourth in the tournament, progressed to the final without dropping a set, producing wins over Pablo Carreno Busta and Albert Montanes. In Contrast, Coric encounter a much more testing experience with encounters against Paul Henri Mathieu (winning in three sets) and Jiri Vesely.

Playing in his fourth ATP final, the Argentine used his experience to his advantage against his higher ranked 19-year-old rival. The opening set was dominated by Delbonis as he moved an error-stricken Coric around the court with little difficulty. With the help of some heavy hitting on the Moroccan court, the Argentine grabbed a break to lead 3-1, after a backhand shot from the Croat failed to go over the net. The world No.51 has three further chances to extend his lead to 5-1 during a lengthy Coric service game, which consisted of five deuces. The 19-year-old managed to resist the pressure from Delbonis to hold his serve. The important hold by Coric was still not enough to cause any disruption to Delbonis’ dominance throughout the opening set, who won 68% of his service points compared to Coric’s 53%. A duo of costly errors from the 19-year-old, a long forehand followed by a failed shot by the net, enabled Delbonis to take the opening set after 46 minutes of play.

Hunting for his maiden ATP title, an animated Coric wasn’t afraid to express his frustration on the court. Meanwhile Delbonis, who won his first ATP title in 2014, maintained his service consistency as both men started the second set with little to distinguish between the two. As proceedings progressed, Coric rallied his way to two break point chances for a 5-4 lead before Delbonis clawed his way back to deuce with the help of a forehand winner and a strong serve. In what was his biggest test of the match, the Argentine held his nerve to move ahead 5-4 after a blistering cross-court forehand set him up for an easy smash. As Coric served to stay in the match, Delbonis was gifted an early 30-0 lead after two successive errors from the Croat. Delbonis eased his way to two match points after another poor error at the net from his opponent. The 25-year-old only required one match point to seal the title after another backhand mishit came off of Coric’s racket.

During his 90-minute triumph, Delbonis fired 4 aces and won 80% of his first service points. The win gives the Argentine his first ATP title since the 2014 Basil Open, when he defeated Paolo Lorenzi. He is the first Argentinian winner of an ATP singles title this year. The title comes during what has been a solid start to 2016 by Delbonis. At the Australian Open he achieved his best Grand Slam performance by reaching the third round of the tournament. More recently at the BNP Paribas Masters, Delbonis grabbed the biggest win of his career after defeating world No.2 Andy Murray in the third round. The title in Morocco is projected to elevate Delbonis to 36th in the rankings, two places below his 2014 career best.