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Borna Coric and Roberto Bautista Agut received their trophies in the 2014 ATP World Tour Awards Presented by Moët & Chandon, honoured in an on-court ceremony on Wednesday afternoon at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Coric, 17, won the ATP Star of Tomorrow Award presented by Emirates for being the youngest player ranked in the Top 100, while the 26-year-old Bautista Agut was voted by fellow players as the Most Improved Player of the Year. ATP Executive Chairman & President Chris Kermode presented the two players with their trophies, crafted by Lenox.

“This is one of the biggest awards so I’m very happy to be here. It’s great, this place, all these facilities, and I’m very proud of myself as well,” said Coric. “I beat a couple of Top 10, Top 20 guys so it was a great season for me, and I just hope I can improve a bit.”

The Croatian also shared his aspirations of wanting to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, sooner rather than later. “I just hope I’m going to be there very soon so I don’t have to wait very long,” he said.

Coric, who began the season ranked outside the Top 300, broke into the Top 100 on 27 October and reached a career-high No. 92 this week. The 17-year-old Croatian reached the Vegeta Croatia Open Umag quarter-finals (l. to Fognini) in July and made his Grand Slam championship debut as a qualifier at the US Open (l. to Estrella Burgos in 2R), prior to beating World No. 3 Rafael Nadal en route to the Swiss Indoors Basel semi-finals in October. He also won one ATP Challenger Tour title.

“It’s important that the other players respect the work that I’ve done,” said Bautista Agut. “I have to be happy with the year I had and hopefully I can repeat it next year. I never imagined it (to have a year like this). It was very helpful to get good results at Auckland and Australia and then be healthy to be consistent all year.”

Bautista Agut climbed from a year-end No. 59 Emirates ATP Ranking last season to a career-high No. 14 in 2014. He claimed his first ATP World Tour title on the grass courts of the Topshelf Open (‘s-Hertogenbosch) in June, triumphed on his transition to clay a few weeks later at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart, and reached the indoor Kremlin Cup by Bank of Moscow hard-court final in Moscow in October.

The Spaniard made a statement on some of the biggest stages: he reached the fourth round at the Australian Open after coming back to defeat World No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro in five sets in the second round, and advanced to the semi-finals at the Mutua Madrid Open, stopped only by Rafael Nadal. He finished the season with 45 match wins – 19 more than his previous career-high.

Spain’s Bautista Agut captured his maiden title on the grass courts of the Topshelf Open in June. The 26 year old rallied from an early deficit against Benjamin Becker for the 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 victory.

"I did not imagine that I would win a title on grass, but it's true that I can play well here," said Bautista Agut. "I can play my best tennis on this surface." The Castellon de la Plana native finished the season in fourth place for most wins on grass in 2014.

Also boosted by a second title, in Stuttgart (d. Rosol) three weeks later, and a runner-up finish on the indoor hard courts of Moscow (l. to Cilic) in October, Bautista Agut catapulted from No. 73 in the Emirates ATP Rankings at the beginning of the season to No. 15 at year's end.

No. 8 seed wins 3rd ATP crown as under-the-weather Sock retires in second set

It was a stacked draw that featured four former champions and four players in the Top 12 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. But 25th-ranked Roberto Bautista Agut was anything but intimidated at the ASB Classic.

The No. 8-seeded Spaniard defeated 2015 champ Jiri Vesely 6-3, 7-5 in the opening round; American Donald Young 6-4, 7-6(3) in the second round, two-time titlist John Isner 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 in the quarters and No. 2 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 in the semis, saving a match point in the process. And on Saturday, he was simply too much for Jack Sock, who was still feeling the effects of flu-like symptoms and retired in the second set due to illness. The 6-1, 1-0 ret. Decision gave Bautista Agut the third title of his career.

“I feel so happy,” said Bautista Agut. “I think I had an amazing week. I had plenty of good wins, played wonderful tennis here. I feel sorry for Jack and I want to congratulate him because he had a really great year last year, and I want to wish him luck for the rest of this season.”

It wasn’t until the 17-minute mark, serving at 0-5, that Sock was able to get on the scoreboard. But as the American's body language clearly showed, he was struggling mightily. Between sets he likened his condition to “an out of body experience.”

“I don’t feel like I’m really here,” he said.

He opted to forge on, but after dropping his serve to open the second set, he walked to the net to announce his retirement.

Sock was appearing in his third ATP World Tour final, all of which have come in the last nine months. The 23-year-old won his first title in Houston before finishing as runner-up in Stockholm. Bautista Agut also reached two finals in 2015, falling in back-to-back weeks at Moscow and Valencia. The 27-year-old is now 3-4 overall in finals. He evened his FedEx ATP Head2Head history against Sock at 2-2. He will pocket $82,450 in prize money to go along with 250 points in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Spaniard claims fourth ATP World Tour title
Roberto Bautista Agut continued his ruthless run of form in Sunday's Garanti Koza Sofia Open final, turning aside Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-4.
It was another dominant showing from the Spaniard, who did not relinquish a set in three matches en route to his fourth tour-level title. A battle between the two ATP World Tour winners from the second week of the 2016 season, with Bautista Agut having prevailed in Auckland and Troicki in Sydney, the top seed needed 82 minutes to lift the trophy.
"It is always special to win a title," Bautista Agut said. "I have to be happy about this start to the season, the way I play. I am enjoying to be on the court. I just can’t be happier.
“I used drop shots a lot today because he is a great defender and sometimes he stays very far from the baseline. I needed to find a way to break the rhythm and drop shots gave me a lot of points today. To beat Viktor you have to work a lot. He is a very tough opponent. He runs a lot, he makes you play a lot of balls, he defends really well. We played a lot of rallies today and I like that as a Spanish player."
Bautista Agut secured the lone break of the first set in the eighth game, claiming a total 20 of 25 (80 per cent) service points in the opener. In the second, he looked to run away with the match after grabbing an immediate break, but Troicki answered in kind with a break back. The Serb could not hold off Bautista Agut for long, however, as the eventual champ converted another break for 2-1 and held his nerve to the finish line. He triumphed on his second match point as a Troicki return sailed wide.
The 27-year-old Castellon de la Plana native is in the midst of his best start to an ATP World Tour season, posting a 12-2 record and notching two titles. He entered Sofia on the heels of a run to the Round of 16 at the Australian Open, equaling his best Grand Slam result. He takes home €82,450 in prize money and 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points.
Troicki, meanwhile, was bidding to claim his fourth title in his ninth final. The Sydney champion (d. Dimitrov) is also off to a career-best start with a 10-3 mark. He earns €43,430 and 150 Emirates ATP Rankings points for his run to the final.
"He was playing better – more offensive, more aggressive, took more risks," said Troicki. "He also didn’t’ miss many balls. I felt like the better I played, the better he played. I had a long match yesterday. I needed to be 100 per cent fit to win. He started the season very well. He played great the last four tournaments. So I congratulate him. He deserved the win.
"It was still a good week for me. I reached the final again in four weeks. It is a great start to the season. I hope to keep it up with the good results. That is the only way to make it to the Top 10 which is my goal. I have to achieve it this year."
Both players will travel to Rotterdam for next week's ATP World Tour 500 event. Bautista Agut opens against Joao Sousa, while Troicki faces qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov. A potential rematch is in the cards in the semi-finals.

Delight for the Spaniard
Roberto Bautista Agut is through to his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final after beating ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-4 on Friday at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
The Spaniard will face Novak Djokovic as he bids to reach his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final. His first semi-final came two years ago on home soil in Madrid, where he lost to Rafael Nadal.
"I'm happy about being in the semi-finals. But also, I'm happy with the way I'm working, with the way I'm planning all my days, with the way I'm playing on the court," said Bautista Agut. "I'm feeling great. I hope to continue like this."
Bautista Agut will need to overturn a 0-5 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against World No. 1 Djokovic if he is to make the final. "I am playing well and I'm doing the things well to face Novak," said the Spaniard. "For sure it's a good moment to face him. Novak is one of the best tennis players in history. I played against him a couple of really good matches. I know if I play good I can make it a difficult match for him."
Bautista Agut has run the rule over Tsonga in 2016 and Friday’s quarter-final followed suit as the 15th seed claimed victory in 73 minutes. After Bautista Agut had raced to a 5-1 lead in the opener, Tsonga clawed his way back into contention to make the second set competitive. But Bautista Agut made his decisive move in the 10th game, breaking Tsonga for the win.
"I played with a lot of intensity," said Bautista Agut. "I put a lot of pressure on the return and I played my game. I was calm. I was very concentrated in all the match. I think putting a lot of rhythm to make the match with high intensity was the key to beating him."
The Spaniard had lost his first two meetings with Tsonga, but this year saved a match point to beat the Frenchman in the Auckland semi-finals and edged him in a third-set tie-break in Miami. He is going for his third title of the season, after lifting the trophies in Auckland (d. Sock) and Sofia (d. Troicki).
Tsonga was on the comeback from a left knee injury that forced him to retire in the US Open quarter-finals against Djokovic and then to miss Metz, Chengdu and Beijing. The right-hander was the runner-up in Shanghai last year (l. to Djokovic) and was looking for another strong run to give himself an outside chance of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
"For me, it was a little surprise to play like this, this week," said Tsonga. "I hope I will continue to improve like this in the next few days and play better in the next tournament. Today was still good, I just lost to a guy who was better than me."