Another Winston-Salem Open means it’s a good bet Borna Coric will be around for a while.

The 27-year-old from Croatia needed just over an hour to defeat India's No. 1 men's singles player Sumit Nagal 6-4, 6-2 in a first-round match on Sunday afternoon at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.

Coric is more than familiar with the courts in Winston-Salem and what it takes to advance. He’s done so well in recent years he’s lost to the eventual champion on two occasions.

“It is very hot, but I was prepared for that, and I’ve played here many times,” said Coric, who made it to the semifinals last year before losing to eventual champion Sabastian Baez.

As fate would have it, Coric will get a chance for revenge. He and Baez are slated to play on Tuesday in the second round. Baez, the top seed, will open his defense of his title against Coric.

In last year’s semifinals Coric battled hard but lost in three sets with two of those sets going to tiebreakers.

“Hopefully I can play well in my next match, but it will be to the guy I lost to in the semifinals last year,” Coric said.

Coric was ranked as high as No. 12 in 2018, and he’s currently ranked No. 83. He's collected three ATP titles in his career.

He didn’t mince words after his match about how much he likes coming to Winston-Salem.

“I like to come back here, and I was playing some of my best tennis today,” Coric said. “I was serving good, playing good points from the baseline, so overall I’m very happy.”

Coric also didn’t want to look too far ahead when asked about playing so well in Winston-Salem in his career.

“I need the wins,” he said, “and I’m just happy to be out there.”

In other first-round matches on Sunday afternoon it was Aleksander Vukic who rallied from a set down to beat Daniel Evans 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

In a late qualifying final into the main draw, Tristan Schoolkate defeated Nicolas Mejia in one of the closest matches of the tournament so far. Schoolkate needed two tiebreakers and  tow and a half hours to win 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) to advance.