Both the top seeded Tommy Paul and fellow American colleague, Jenson Brooksby, a qualifier, came through tough battles to reach the last 8 at the US Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas.
Today was a tricky, rollercoaster match. I feel like that’s kind of been my year so far, a lot of rollercoaster matches. I’m really happy to get through this one. It’s been a while since I’ve had a win here in Houston. Tommy Paul
The pair are set to meet in the semi-finals of the ATP 250 level event but first need to clear the quarter finals which should be well within their scope.
Paul had his hands full but successfully came through a topsy-turvy match against the Chilean clay court expert and former champion Cristian Garin 2-6 6-2 7-6(5) while earlier in the day, Brooksby fended off several match points to eventually ease past the third seed, another Chilean, Alejandro Tabilo, 6-3 4-6 7-6(6).
The pair are obviously still trying to acclimatise themselves to clay from the hard court of the last four weeks and Brooksby has the advantage of having now played two matches on clay after beating Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-4 6-4 in round one while Paul had a bye.
Paul was always the favourite to clear the second round against the 2019 Houston champion.
Garin, a former top twenty player but currently ranked 133, has always been comfortable in Houston and certainly had Paul on his toes as he attempted to get a run going.
The match started with an exhausting 16-minute service game for Garin, featuring 10 deuces to set the tone for a gruelling battle as the 28-year-old Chilean capitalized on Paul’s struggles with his first serve and took control of the match under light rain, winning the opening set 6-2.
Paul earned a crucial break at 4-4 in the decider and served for the match in the ensuing game, but Garin struck back and eventually forced a tie-break where the 27-year-old American eventually secured his victory after two hours and 42-minutes.
“Today was a tricky, rollercoaster match. I feel like that’s kind of been my year so far, a lot of rollercoaster matches,” Paul said. “I’m really happy to get through this one. It’s been a while since I’ve had a win here in Houston.”
Paul will next take on his friend and fellow American Colton Smith, a qualifier, competing in just his second tour-level event, who defeated fellow qualifier and compatriot Ethan Quinn, 6-3, 6-4.
Brooksby required two hours 51-minutes to upset the third seed Tabilo, ranked 32, who failed to convert three match points as the American posted a 3-6 6-4 7-6(6) victory for a very confidence-boosting result for a player currently ranked 507 and consequently becomes Houston’s lowest ranked quarter finalist in its history.
After sharing the first two sets, the decider started perfectly for Tabilo, who secured an early break and led 5-3 and a chance to serve for the match. However, Brooksby broke back at the last moment putting the pressure on the Chilean to stay in the match before the set was forced into a tiebreak.
There Tabilo gained the upper hand early to lead 6-3 only to falter on the brink of victory as Brooksby made a successful five-point run to claim the quarter final slot.
Brooksby will face compatriot Aleksander Kovacevic who had a comfortable 6-3 6-3 win over Frenchman Corentin Denolly.
The remaining quarter final places are still to be filled.
Flavio Cobolli was tested by Richard Gasquet
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
In Bucharest, Flavio Cobolli, the Italian world ranked 45 and seeded three at the Tiriac Open presented by UniCredit Bank, defeated the French veteran Richard Gasquet 6-4 4-6 6-4 in one hour and 55-minutes.
“I want to say thanks to the crowd, because I felt like I was at home,” said the 22-year-old following his win to reach the quarter finals. “I heard so many Italians here, and maybe some Romanians too. It’s always a pleasure to play with an amazing player like Richard and I’m really happy to reach my first win of the [calendar] year, finally.
“When I play a tournament, my goal is to win the tournament, so I’m here to play my best game. I am focused to play match by match. I am happy now for the win, but I’m not happy because I want to win more.”
He will play next Filip Misolic, an Austrian qualifier who toppled the third seeded Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina, 6-3 6-1 as rain halted play for the rest of the day.
Over in Marrakech, there were no surprises as the three seeds in action all made it into the quarter finals at the Grand Prix Hassan II being played at the Royal Tennis Club.
Portuguese Nuno Borges, seeded 4, edged past Belgian Raphael Collignon 6-3 3-6 7-6(0) and will face the fifth seeded Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain who made light work of Finn Otto Virtanen 6-4 6-4.
“I played an unbelievable tie-break, I think it was the best tie-break I’ve ever played,” Borges said following his win.
Meanwhile, third seeded Alexander Muller of France, recovered from a tight first set to defeat Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien 6-7(5) 6-1 6-4 and will now face Poland qualifier Kamil Matchrzak, a 7-6(3) 6-1 winner over Jesper de Jong of The Netherlands.
“It was a little bit difficult to play today, it was really windy,” said Muller in his on-court interview. “I just tried to focus and to really want to win the match. That was the key today, so I’m happy to get the win. I think between the first half and the second half I really focused on myself and did not focus on the conditions and everything. In the first set I was focused too much on it. By the end, I think I was playing quite well.”
