Stan Wawrinka, at 39 years of age, has become the oldest player to reach the last eight of the Nordic Open in Stockholm, Sweden when he defeated Alejandro Davidovic Fokina 6-4 3-6 7-5 after battling with the Spaniard for two-hours and 12-minutes.
“I’m super happy to get through this match; it was a tough opponent today, but the level was good and it was great to win two matches here. It’s an amazing atmosphere, a full house. Thank you everybody for making so much noise,” the Swiss veteran said following his win.
Wawrinka will face top seed Andrey Rublev, who opened his campaign with an emphatic 6-4 6-1 win over Alexandre Muller, hitting 17 winners and saving the three break points he faced.
Earlier, Miomir Kecmanovic battled his way past Nicolas Jarry to reach the quarter final with 6-4 4-6 7-6(2) victory while the third seed Grigor Dimitrov, a former champion of the event (2013) closed the day’s play with a 7-6(1), 6-3 victory over Quentin and will meet Swiss Dominic Stricker for a semi-final place.
Dimitrov, currently tenth in the Race To Turin, is aiming to make a late-season push and qualify for the ATP Finals for the first time since he won the season finale in 2017.
Stefanos Tsitsipas outlasted his opponent
(Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
In Antwerp at the European Open, Stefanos Tsitsipas was pushed to the limit in his opening match by Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild. The second seed was kept on the defensive for much of the match but eventually secured a place in the last eight 7-6(5) 4-6 7-5 fending off three break points the 11th game of the decider before going on to seal a hard-earned win after two-hours, 26-minutes.
“It was exhausting out here having to stay in the match,” Tsitsipas said following his win. “The comeback was crazy. When he was up in the score, I managed to stay in the points and defend well.
“It was all psychological at the end, I managed my nerves pretty well. I don’t usually like to build my game around defensive shots, but I had to fight, I had to do anything within my artillery to make it work.”
Tsitsipas set up a quarter-final clash with fifth seed Jiri Lehecka, who earlier eased past Daniel Altmaier 6-4 6-3 in 73-minutes
Zizou Bergs brought the day to a close with 6-3 6-4 win over fourth seed Sebastian Baez to become only the third Belgian to reach the quarter finals in Antwerp after David Goffin and Ruben Bemelmans.
Bergs will next face Marcos Giron, who earlier produced a gutsy showing to edge past Arthur Rinderknecht 7-6(6) 7-6(4) and reach his sixth quarter final of the season.
Frances Tiafoe wss put through the mill by Dan Evans
(Photo by Zhe Ji/Getty Images)
Meanwhile in Kazakhstan Dan Evans crashed out of the Almaty Open but not before he put the top seeded Frances Tiafoe through the mill who eventually secured his opening round win over the qualifier, 6-7(10) 7-6(4) 6-3.
“He was playing really well,” Tiafoe admitted after securing his win. “In the first didn’t get broken so my serve was a big part of it. I served a lot of aces today, and I started coming into the net a little bit more, taking a little bit more risk, instead of just being patient in the rallies.”
Tiafoe improves to 6-3 lifetime against Evans and will face Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic in the quarter finals.
“He’s got a good serve,” said Tiafoe. “I need to do some of the things I did today, serve well, take my time on serve, and be the aggressor.”
The quarter final lineup is now set in Almaty, with all four seeds reaching the last eight.
