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Borna Coric showed his class after beating Dominic Thiem in a Davis Cup match as he called the Austrian "a great champion" and tipped the 2020 US Open champion to "soon return to the top-10." On Sunday, Coric saw off Thiem 7-6 (3) 6-2 to clinch the third and deciding point for Croatia in their Davis Cup qualifiers tie over Austria.
Thiem, who was out for 10 months before returning from a wrist injury last March, is now ranked at No 96 as he has yet to rediscover his best game since returning. "Always a privilege to share a court with (a) great champion of our sport @domithiem.
I am sure Domi will be back in top 10 soon," Coric wrote on his Instagram Story.
Coric on beating Thiem
On the opening day of their tie, Croatia took a 2-0 lead after Coric beat Dennis Novak and Borna Gojo beat Thiem, respectively.
In the doubles match - where the Croatians were the big favorites to win - Austria's Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler produced a shock win over Ivan Dodig and Nikola Mektic to keep the Austrians alive. But in the fourth match, Coric defeated Thiem to end Austria's hopes of beating Croatia.
“It was not easy, but I knew that this is Davis Cup, and this is tennis, and that anything can happen. I was ready after the doubles match. I was pretty nervous, but I had time to prepare myself for the match. I came out on the court and I was playing great tennis today," Coric said, per the Davis Cup website.
It was the sixth meeting between the two as Coric and Thiem now stand at 3-3 in their head-to-head. "I enjoyed the fight, it was great. It was great to play in front of the home crowd. I was very happy with the way I was playing on the important points. I was very aggressive so I’m super happy with the win," Coric said.