Chengdu Open—China
Musetti Advances to Chengdu Quarterfinals; Rune Crashes Out of Hangzhou
Top seed Lorenzo Musetti and No. 2 Alexander Bublik advanced to the quarterfinals of the Chengdu Open on Saturday.
Musetti was pushed to the brink in his opening match of the event, needing a third set tiebreaker to defeat Christopher O’Connell 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(4).
Hitting seven aces, striking 33 winners and breaking serve on four occasions, Musetti will next face tricky Frenchman Adrian Mannarino for a place in the semifinals.
Mannarino defeated Yi Zhou 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-4.
Elsewhere, Bublik had a much easier day at the office, ousting Federico Agusti Gomez 6-4, 6-4.
Bublik used his big serve to hit eight aces and win 72 percent of his first serve points. The No. 2 seed will next face Juncheng Shang in the quarterfinals.
Shang, who will love his chances in China over the next month, defeated No. 8 seed Roman Safiullin 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
Sunday’s quarterfinal action will also include No. 3 seed Nicolas Jarry vs. Alibek Kackmazov and No. 4 seed Pedro Martinez taking on Yannick Hanfmann.
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Hangzhou Open—China
Top seed Holger Rune crashed out of the Hangzhou Open on Saturday in straight sets, losing to Yasutaka Uchiyama 7-5, 6-4.
Rune, who has now dropped three matches in the a row, is currently ranked No. 14 in the world.
Uchiyama, who entered the event ranked No. 160 on the computer, hadn’t played any main draw ATP Tour matches all season.
Other results on the day included home country favourite Zhizhen Zhang defeating Mattia Bellucci 6-3, 6-0, former US Open winner Marin Cilic dismissing No. 8 seed Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4, 6-1, and Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena advancing past American Mitchell Krueger 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Sunday’s quarterfinal matches will feature Brandon Nakashima taking on Rinky Hijikata and Mikhail Kukushkin vs. Yunchaokete Bu.
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