US Open: Ranking the five biggest threats to pull off late upsets

4. Borna Coric

Coric is coming off of a shocking 5-set defeat of Stefanos Tsitsipas in a match where he saved six (!) match points on his way to victory. While that statistic is certainly aided by luck, it doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s put on an impressive showing so far this entire week.

His match gave him his second-straight five-set win so far this tournament. It certainly doesn’t aid his chances at making a deep run this tournament but where he lacks in that category, he makes up for in a favorable draw moving forward. He’s matched up against Jordan Thompson in Round 4, who’s put together a strong performance so far but hasn’t faced anyone up to the caliber that Coric is.

If he’s able to defeat Thompson, Coric will likely have Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals. While he’s a top-five seed in this tournament and has looked incredibly strong on serve and from the ground so far, the possibility for all of that to unfold is always there with the current World #7. Zverev’s loss against Andy Murray last week in the Western & Southern Round of 16 doesn’t give him a huge boost, either.

Coric’s ability to fight through adversity yesterday was a shining example of the tools that an up-and-coming player needs in order to win tough matches. He’s likely still one of the weaker “sleeper” candidates moving forward in the draw but his favorable next match would give him momentum heading into a potential QF matchup against Zverev.