No. 4 seed Andrey Rublev survived a battle of youth to lead quarterfinal qualifiers in Umag, but no. 2 seed Damir Dzumhur lost a three-set contest in the wee hours of the morning.
Rublev, 20, outlasted 17-year-old wild card Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 over two and a half hours, coming back from a break down in the third. The Russian showed no signs of rust in his first match in more than three months, putting 70 percent of first serves in play and saving six of the nine break points he faced.
Rublev converted the break points he needed, starting in the opening game of the match. He swiftly held serve throughout the set as Auger-Aliassime routinely missed by small margins. Rublev again broke to open a set, but the Canadian fought back and the pair traded four consecutive breaks to open the middle frame.
They then matched service holds until the tiebreak, where the status quo remained until Rublev missed a volley at 4-5. On his first set point, the Canadian hit a phenomenal pass that dipped inside the sideline to level the match.
Rublev dinked a backhand into the net to open the third set, giving the 17-year-old the lead. But he tightened up at 3-2 as a powerful Rublev forehand leveled the set. With the momentum, Rublev jumped ahead 0-30 in Auger-Aliassime’s next service game, then secured the break with a double fault and wide Auger-Aliassime forehand.
Rublev managed to close out the match on serve, setting up a meeting with No. 6 seed Robin Haase, who launched a spirited comeback from a set and a break down to defeat Martin Klizan 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. The Dutchman had not yet earned a single break point before breaking Klizan at 4-3 in the second set, then broke the Slovak’s next two service games en route to six on the trot, the second set win and a 3-0 lead in the third.
He relied on his power in those turning points, winning a marathon rally for his first break and pairing a deft strong volley with a blasted cross-court forehand to close out the set. Another ripped forehand gave him the early third set edge, and he used the same formula to save break points later.
Dzumhur, meanwhile, did not take the court until nearly 11:00, and left more than two hours later a demoralized loser; veteran Russian Evgeny Donskoy pulled the biggest surprise of the tournament with a 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 victory on the strength of a better second serve and break point save rate.
Donskoy, No. 83 in the world, won just three more total points in a statistically even match, but secured a love break in the opening game of the third set and needed nothing more to secure the upset. He had saved four set points in the opening frame before winning an extended 11-9 tiebreak. He lost his serve three times in a four-serve stretch in the second set, but those were his only drops in two hours and 14 minutes.
Donskoy will meet Argentine qualifier Marco Trungelliti, a surprise 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 winner over Marton Fucsovics, in the quarterfinals.
