Challenger Circuit: All seeds out of Knoxville, Edmund into semis - UBITENNIS

Challenger Circuit: All seeds out of Knoxville, Edmund into semis

By Alex Burton
3 Min Read
Novikov ensured that Knoxville will be won by an unseeded player this year.

Bratislava: Egor Gerasimov compartmentalized the fact he missed multiple match points in the second set tiebreaker, to win the third against Norbert Gombos, dispatching the eighth seed 7-6, 6-7, 7-6. Ilya Marchenko ended Radek Stepanek’s run, beating the Czech veteran 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Lukas Lacko was the only one to enjoy an easy win, defeating qualifier Alexey Vatutin 6-2, 6-2

Saturday semi-finals: Lacko vs Marchenko, Gerasimov vs Copil OR Roger-Vasselin (picks in bold)

Mouilleron Le Captif: Paul-Henri Mathieu delighted the home crowd by beating Teymuraz Gabashvili 7-6, 6-2, and there was further good news for the French as Lucas Pouille eliminated Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-1, 6-4. The game of the day saw red-hot Karen Khachanov take on second seed Adrian Mannarino. The quality of the Top 100 man eventually shone through after a scare for a 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 win.

Saturday semi finals: Lucas Pouille vs Adrian Mannarino, Benoit Paire OR Marcel Granollers vs Paul Henri Mathieu.

Ortisei: Another marathon saw Laslo Djere win a match against Aldin Setkic that featured three tie-breaks. The young Serb won the first and third sets to reach the semis. Rajeev Ram perhaps surprisingly took out Luca Vanni on his home turf, 7-5, 6-3. Ram had not been in good form, but will now contest the semi-finals. Ricardas Berankis easied past Mirza Basic 6-3, 6-4.

Saturday semi finals: Berankis vs Djere, Ram vs Donskoy OR Fucsovics

Buenos Aires: Kyle Edmund quickly got his quarter final out of the way, defeating Hans Podlipnik-Castillo 6-3, 6-4. Other players including Horacio Zeballos and Guillherme Clezar were forced to pull double-duty after the rain delays of Wednesday. Zeballos beat Facundo Bagnis and Clezar beat Facundo Arguello before they face each other this evening. Berlocq and Andreozzi will also play two-in-one, as they both won their second round matches held over from Wednesday.

Kobe: John Millman continued his serene progress. The top seed has not dropped a set this week. Thursday did see the second and third seeds depart. Matthew Ebden, as predicted, lost to Konstantin Kravchuk 6-4, 6-0, and Go Soeda was upset by seventh seed Yoshihito Nishioka 7-5, 3-6, 6-1. Taro Daniel narrowly avoided the same fate, winning after being two points away from losing at one stage in beating Stephane Robert 2-6, 7-6, 6-2.

Saturday semi-finals: Millman vs Nishioka, Daniel vs Kravchuk

Knoxville: James Duckworth was upset by Dennis Novikov, meaning none of the eight seeds will contest the semi-finals. Duckworth was the last seed standing, but lost 7-5, 6-4. It means that the draw is now completely open for a glut of young Americans, including Jared Donaldson and Francis Tiafoe, who both play later Thursday.

 

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