Lloyd Harris of South Africa upset No. 1 seed Valentin Vacherot of Monaco 6-4, 7-6 (5) to reach the quarterfinals of the Chengdu Open in China on Saturday.
Harris, ranked No. 136 in the world, struck 16 aces and won 89% of the points on his first serve. He didn’t face a break point and converted one of two break opportunities.
No. 2 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain returned to ATP Tour play for the first time since July with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina.
Davidovich Fokina had been sidelined by injuries and missed the American hard court events, culminating with the U.S. Open. His win set up a quarterfinal match against French qualifier Alexandre Muller, who defeated Federico Cina of Italy 7-6 (3), 6-1 in 88 minutes.
No. 5 Hubert Hurkacz of Poland outlasted Martin Damm 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and will oppose Harris in the quarters.
Hangzhou Open
Top seed Daniil Medvedev survived a first-set challenge from Valentin Royer of France to win 7-6 (6), 6-3 and move to the quarterfinal round in China.
Medvedev put on a serving master class in the one hour, 49-minute match. He landed 16 aces, saved all five break points and won 84% of the points on his first serve, compared to 66% for his opponent. Next up for the Russian is the winner of the later match between Coleman Wong of Hong Kong and Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay.
In the day’s other matches, a pair of seeded players fell. Russian Roman Safiullin ousted No. 4 seed Quentin Halys of France 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, and Kamil Majchrzak of Poland, the No. 8 seed, was dropped by China’s Yunchaokete Bu in a 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-2 match.
Safiullin and Bu will square off in a quarterfinal on Sunday.
–Field Level Media
