Week 18 - Challenger ($50,000+H) - Ān-Níng, China (Clay)

steven · Tennis legend

Week 18 - Challenger ($50,000+H) - Ān-Níng, China (Clay)

paulisi · Tennis legend

Tough match for Oli.

Dan Cox is seeded, so a great chance to pick up decent points.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Good to see Oli giving the challengers a go but yep, very tough match

Shhh · Challenger level

There are certainly easier matches in the draw for Ollie but, as its a 50K+H challenger its not a shocker either.

LouieG · County player

Good opportunity for Coxy!

Mr cheese · Improver

There will be a bunch of croatians somewhere being as worried for coric as we are for golding!

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Oli's teamed up with his singles opponent in the doubles & it's tough draw for them:

R1: Borna Coric (CRO) & Oli Golding CR 1425 (836+589) vs Laurynas Grigelis & Nikola Mektic (LTU/CRO) CR 730 (448+282)
R1: Dan Cox & Gong Maoxin (CHN) 1581 (1252+329) vs Chase Buchanan & Lukas Storck (USA/GER) CR 1396 (287+1109)

Somebody's going to have a field day with the unknown (to me) German's surname... wink

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

R1: Laurynas Grigelis & Nikola Mektic (LTU/CRO) CR 730 (448+282) defeated Borna Coric (CRO) & Oli Golding CR 1425 (836+589) by 6-3 7-6(0)

Jaffa · Challenger level

Not sure why everyone is so pessimistic about Oli. Having a fantastic year so far and definitely has the weapons to hurt Coric!

paulisi · Tennis legend

How about Coric is higher ranked, underranked and on his favoured surface.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Agree with Paulisi Coric will be top 100 in a years time whereas Oli won't.

Spectator · All-time great

Chung beat Coric at Wimbledon last year, didn't he? And his record is pretty phenomenal. Suggests two not necessarily straightforward matches.

steven · Tennis legend

For what it's worth, the bookies give Oli about a 1 in 3 chance of beating Coric, Dan a 5 in 8 chance of beating Chung.

scottie1 · Futures level

I saw Coric last year in Edinburgh following his fantastic run in Bournemouth. He just ran out of steam in Edinburgh but remember he was a 16 year old boy. On clay he is really good. I don't think that clay would be Ollie's best surface. If Ollie can serve big then he has a chance but I think Coric's groundstrokes will be too powerful for him

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Having sat in the stands in Umag for Davis Cup and watched Coric play a 56 shot rally in the opening game of the opening rubber against Andy Murray, I can say conclusively that this kid has talent. Oli is a major talent from a GB perspective, but Coric starts a big favourite for me. But favourites don't always win in a two horse race.