Germany’s Daniel Altmaier cashed in his home-court advantage to pull off a convincing 6-2, 6-2 upset of No. 2 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia to reach the quarterfinals of the Hamburg European Open.
Altmaier had seven aces and won 23 of his 27 first-serve points (85.2 percent) as he overcame the seventh-ranked player in the world in one hour, 15 minutes to reach his second tour-level quarterfinal of the season.
Altmaier will now face China’s Zhang Zhizhen, who was a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 winner over Yannick Hanfmann of Germany.
No. 1 seed Casper Rudd of Norway avoided the same fate as Rublev, dropping the opening set before rallying for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Cristian Garin of Chile. Rudd broke Garin’s serve in the fifth game of the second set and saved all five break points the rest of the way.
In the quarterfinals, Rudd will face Arthur Fils of France, who was a 7-5, 7-5 winner over Dusan Lajovic of Serbia. Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti earned a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Jozef Kovalik of Slovakia in another Round of 16 match.
Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag
In his first tour-level event as a No. 1 seed, Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic justified his top seed with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Dominic Thiem of Austria.
Lehecka is set to face Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in the quarterfinals.
No. 4 seed Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Taro Daniel of Japan, while No. 6 seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland was a 7-5, 6-1 winner over Federico Coria of Argentina.
Spain’s Jaume Munar was a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan, while No. 2 seed Lorenzo Sonego won an all-Italy matchup against Marco Cecchinato 6-1, 7-6 (7).
Atlanta Open
Top seed Taylor Fritz won his second-round match at Atlanta in straight sets, but it was a bit of a battle over China’s Yibing Wu, 6-4, 7-6 (5), in 90 minutes.
Fritz, No. 9 in the world rankings, had the advantage in aces, 10-6, and made no double faults to three for his opponent while reaching the quarterfinals.
Also in the Round of 16, German’s Dominik Koepfer upset third-seeded Daniel Evans of Great Britain 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
In a battle of Americans, eighth-seeded J.J. Wolf downed Maxime Cressy 7-6 (7), 6-3. Wolf won one of four break points, while Cressy didn’t create a break opportunity, though he had a 16-6 advantage in aces.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori advanced to face Fritz with a 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory over China’s Juncheng Shang.
–Field Level Media
