Top-seeded Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz ushered himself into the quarterfinals of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open with a straight-set romp against France’s Valentin Royer 6-2, 7-5 in the round of 16 Wednesday in Doha.
Alcaraz had a clean first set, saving the two break points he faced while breaking Royer twice. Royer jumped ahead 5-2 in the second set, but Alcaraz won 21 of the final 27 points of the match to storm back and seal the win.
Second-seeded Jannik Sinner also advanced with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Australia’s Alexei Popyrin. The Italian has yet to face a break point in his two matches. Fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev fell to Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 in the lone upset of the day.
Fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev, sixth-seeded Jakub Mensik, seventh-seeded Karen Khachanov, eighth-seeded Jiri Lehecka and Arthur Fils advanced as well, with all but Khachanov winning in straight sets.
Delray Beach Open
Hong Kong qualifier Coleman Wong upset seventh-seeded American Brandon Nakashima in straight sets 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the round of 16 at Delray Beach, Fla.
Wong was lights out on his first serve, converting 32 of 38 shots (84 percent) and only dropping his serve once. Wong will face off against third-seeded Flavio Cobolli in the quarterfinals after the Italian took down France’s Terence Atmane 7-5, 6-4.
Norway’s second-seeded Caper Rudd fought back to oust American Marcos Giron 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4. Rudd rattlted home 20 aces and saved all three break points he faced after dropping the first set. In an All-American tilt, Sebastian Korda took down Alex Michelsen 6-3, 7-6 (6) as Korda converted four of his 13 break-point opportunities.
Rio Open
Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante upset fellow countryman and top-seed Francisco Cerundolo 6-2, 3-1 after Cerundolo retired in the middle of the second set due to a back injury during the round of 16 in Rio de Janeiro.
Tirante was dominating with seven aces and breaking three times before Cerundolo was forced to pull out of the match. Tirante will face Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo, who battled back to take down Italian Francesco Passaro 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2.
Juan Manuel Cerundolo, older brother of Francisco, defeated Yannick Hanfmann 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-4, while Czech Republic’s Vit Kopriva took down Argentine Roman Andres Burruchaga in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 to also advance to the quarterfinals.
–Field Level Media
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