Borna Coric finished late, or should we say early, against Ilya Ivashka, but he didn't even realize that he finished the match.
It was a long day at the 2023 Los Cabos Open on Thursday, with several matches going the distance. The court generally plays a bit slower than usual hard courts, which drags out the rallies. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nicolas Jarry took 3 hours to finish their match which was bad news for Borna Coric.
The Croatian was scheduled to play the last match of the day, a match that essentially started one day after it was supposed to take place as they took to the courts after midnight. It was a long match, relatively speaking, considering that it lasted only two sets meaning that it finished in the early hours of Friday.
Coric defeated Ivashka, but he didn't realize that he defeated him. After winning the point, the Croatian simply started walking to his towel instead of going to shake hands, only realizing it after a while. He apologized to Ivashka about it, but the Belarusian didn't mind cracking a smile as they shook hands.
It's not the first time that we've seen a late finish in Mexico, as last year's match between Alexander Zverev and Jenson Brooksby went even further time-wise. They finished at 4.54 am after another long day in similar conditions.
Both events generally play in slower conditions with a lot of humidity due to the proximity to the sea. They've been split up in the calendar but will be played in back-to-back weeks next year, which was actually accidentally revealed by Casper Ruud earlier this year.
When it comes to Coric, winning these matches is hugely important for him because he's inching closer to a big title defence in Cincinnati. He won the event by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas last year and that's who he'll play for a spot in the final here.
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