No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner defeated Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals at the Libema Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
The Italian was the only seeded player to move out of the Round of 16 on Wednesday, and he did so in just 85 minutes. Sinner, No. 9 in the world, won 84 percent (27 of 32) of the points on his first serve compared to 64 percent for his opponent, didn’t drop a game on serve and won five games in a row to eliminate Bublik.
Croatia’s Borna Coric, the No. 3 seed, lost to American Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-4, and Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland, defeated No. 7 seed Ugo Humbert of France, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-4.
Rinky Hijikata of Australia ousted Marc-Andrea Huesler of Switzerland 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the day’s only other action.
Boss Open
Fourth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland was pushed to the limits by Japan’s Yosuke Watanuki but emerged a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) winner in Stuttgart, Germany.
The entertaining two-hour, 21-minute match featured 48 aces, with 27 of them coming from Watanuki, fueling his 51 winners against 14 unforced errors. Still, Hurkacz was able to escape two tiebreaks to move to the quarterfinals.
There, he’ll face Christopher O’Connell of Australia, who defeated Lorenzo Sonego 7-6 (5), 6-3. Sonego’s fellow Italian, sixth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti, had no trouble against Gregoire Barrere of France in a 6-3, 6-3 win.
Musetti next faces No. 3 seed Frances Tiafoe, who saved all three break points in a 7-6 (2), 6-4 defeat of Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic.
–Field Level Media
