The top two seeds at the Estoril Open faced little trouble on Thursday as Russia’s Andrey Rublev and Italy’s Luciano Darderi dropped a combined three games to advance to the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 event in Portugal.
The top-seeded Rublev took down Kazakhstan’s Timofey Skatov 6-1, 6-1. Rublev converted 17 of 23 first serve points (74 percent) and also broke Skatov six times in a match that lasted 59 minutes. Darderi was even more dominant in his 6-0, 6-1 win over Spain’s Pedro Martinez. Darderi didn’t face any break points and registered points on 17 of his 19 second serves.
In the lone upset of the day, France’s Luca Van Assche beat eighth-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in a match that lasted over two hours. Portugal’s Jaime Faria, who upset the No. 6 seed in the first round, continued his run into the quarterfinals with a win over Peru’s Gonzalo Bueno by a 6-2, 6-4 count.
Generali Open
Top-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan pushed his title defense of this ATP 250 event into the semifinals by taking down Slovakia’s Alex Molcan 6-3, 6-2 in Kitzbuhel, Austria.
Though Molcan broke Bublik four times, Bublik responded by breaking Molcan seven times. In the second set, Molcan forged a 2-2 tie as Bublik committed five double faults in the fourth game. Bublik (13 aces) went on to win the next four games to clinch the match. Bublik will take on fourth-seeded Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the semis after the Argentinian got the better of Peru’s Ignacio Buse with a 6-2, 7-5 win.
In the other half of the bracket, France’s Quentin Halys beat Argentina’s Mariano Navone 7-5, 6-3, while Yannick Hanfmann of Germany beat Argentina’s Sebastian Baez 6-3, 6-1. Hanfmann and Halys will face off in the other semifinal match.
–Field Level Media
