The final for the Noumea Challenger is now set, whilst the Happy Valley and Bangkok tournaments now have semi-final match-ups to look forward to.
Noumea:
(1)Adrian Mannarino defeats Alejandro Falla 62 61. Adrian Mannarino is the player to beat in Noumea this week. In a re-match of last year’s final, Mannarino easily defeated Alejandro Falla. Mannarino is yet to drop a set this week and the defending champion looks in ominous form.
Nikola Milojevic defeats (2) Roberto Carballaes Baena 64 64. The unseeded Serbian has been in superb form this week, and his win over the second seed represents his third seeded scalp of the week after he defeated Quentin Halys (4) and Mathias Bourgue (8) in earlier rounds. Carballes Baena is more well known for his clay exploits, and will not be too disappointed with a semi-final showing here despite being seeded second.
Happy Valley:
Peter Gojowczyk defeats Ruben Bemelmans 76 64. Bemelmans contribution to the draw was knocking out top seed Donald Young in the first round, but the Belgian’s run ended here. The German Gojowczyk edged a tight first set, and despite failing to land his first serve often in the first set (44%), won an impressive amount of points on second serve (60%) to keep the Belgian at bay.
(3) Denis Kudla defeats (6) Darian King 62 76. A very uncomfortable match despite the relatively sound scoreline for Kudla. The American lost his serve five times, and only was only offered a way out by King proving on serve, Kudla breaking six time. The bulk of the breaks appeared in the second set, with eight breaks, as both men failed on serve more often than they succeeded. Kudla got the edge in the tiebreak though, and moves into the semi finals, where he will face Gojowczyk.
Omar Jasika defeats (4) Peter Polansky 64 62. Jasika may have needed a wildcard to get into this event, but the Australian has more than repaid that faith. This win over Polansky represents his second win over a seed this week, after knocking out fifth seed Norbert Gombos in the first round.
Joris De Loore defeats (8) Marton Fucsovics 76 63. Like Jasika, Fucsovics is the surprise of the week to date. This was De Loore’s first seeded opponent of the week, but it did little to dampen his form, dropping serve just once and breaking three times for a double break advantage in the second set. De Loore will have to face the in-form Jasika in the next round.
Bangkok:
(1) Yuichi Sugita defeats Jeremy Jahn 60 64. The run for the German ended with a comprehensive defeat to the top seed here. Jahn was blown away in the first set, before settling somewhat in the second. Sugita always had too much for him though, and the Japanese completed the win in fifty-nine minutes.
(5) Janko Tipsarevic defeats Yannick Mertens 62 64. The former Top Ten pro had little trouble with his match against the Belgian, easing through each set. Tipsarevic won exactly half of the points against Mertens’ serve in the first set, with the result being two breaks. The second set was slightly tighter, as Mertens yielded just a single break, and forced his own break point opportunities, after failing in the first. Tipsarevic saved all three though, and is into the semi-finals.
(7) Maximillian Marterer defeats (3) Marius Copil 64 76. Marterer is perhaps Germany’s other young hope apart from Alexander Zverev. Both are big players with big serves, and the match featured only three breaks. A single advantage for the German in the first set, resulting in the lead. The second set saw the players trade breaks before a long tiebreak saw Marterer win ten-eight, securing the straight sets victory.
Blaz Kavcic defeats Christian Garin 76 61. A comfortable win for the Slovenian against a player more comfortable on clay. Garin had had a great win against Denis Istomin in the second round, but could not replicate that form against Kavcic, winning just a single point in the first set tiebreak, and then just a single game in the second set.
