Third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame some tough resistance from qualifier Mischa Zverev to reach the quarter-finals of the Open de Moselle with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (8/10), 6-3 victory on Wednesday.
Tsonga hit 12 aces and saved six of the eight break points which the Frenchman faced in a match that lasted 2 hours, 15 minutes at the indoor hard court tournament.
Gilles Muller of Luxembourg hit 17 aces to make it to the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/2) win over eighth-seeded Fernando Verdasco.
The 45th-ranked Muller, who produced his first win in three meetings with his Spanish rival, will next face the winner of an all-French contest between two-time former champion Gilles Simon and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber saved five break points to progress to the second round with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 defeat of John Millman. Next up against Kohlschreiber is Paolo Lorenzi, who rallied past Steve Darcis 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Darcis sent Belgium into the Davis Cup final by winning the decisive fifth match against Argentina last weekend.
Top-seeded Stan Wawrinka was to open his campaign against Dustin Brown yesterday.
St Petersburg Open
Third-seeded Dominic Thiem breezed into the quarter-finals of the St Petersburg Open on Wednesday, beating his fellow Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-2, 7-6 (7/2).
From 2-1 down in the first set, Thiem won the next seven games to take the set and go a break up in the second as Haider-Maurer struggled with his serve.
Errors from Thiem helped Haider-Maurer to level the score at 4-4 in the second set, but Thiem cruised to victory in the tiebreak.
The 22-year-old Thiem, who is chasing his fourth ATP title of a breakthrough season, had not played since losing to Kevin Anderson in the third round of the US Open 18 days earlier.
“My last match was a long time ago, so it’s always hard to play your first match, especially against Andy,” Thiem said in televised comments. “It’s a good start to the tournament and I hope it goes on like this.”
Eighth-seeded Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakshtan went out in the first round, beaten 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 6-2 by Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin.
In Wednesday’s other first-round matches, Joao Sousa of Portugal was slow to find his rhythm against Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot, but eventually came through 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Sousa next faces Marcel Granollers of Spain, who saw off Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia 6-3, 6-3.
Italy’s Simone Bolelli overcame the aggressive Russian 17-year-old Andrei Rublev 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to line up a match against top-seeded Tomas Berdych.
‘CRIMINAL ACT’: The UCI said it ‘strongly condemns’ Dylan Groenewegen’s ‘dangerous behavior,’ which left Jakobsen in critical condition and injured other cyclists Dutch cyclist Fabio Jakobsen was in a coma on Wednesday, in “serious” condition, after he was thrown into and over a barrier at 80kph in the conclusion to the opening stage of the Tour de Pologne. Footage showed 23-year-old Jakobsen, of the Deceuninck-Quick-Step, racing elbow-to-elbow with fellow Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen of Jumbo-Visma as both men frantically tussled in a tight sprint to the line in Katowice. However, Jakobsen came off worst, somersaulting over the barriers before colliding with a photographer after Groenewegen had veered suddenly to the right, squeezing his rival into the security wall. “His condition is very serious. His life is
Taiwan Steel on Sunday grabbed three points with a narrow 1-0 win against Hang Yuan FC, to move into the No. 2 spot on the Taiwan Football Premier League (TFPL) log, while Taipower FC beat NTUS 2-0 to maintain first place. Taking advantage early in the match of opposition defenders who had not yet settled down, Taiwan Steel’s attacking trio of Wu Chun-ching, Marc Fenelus from the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Benchy Astama from Haiti pushed forward with good passes. After only one minute of play, Fenelus dribbled from the right flank, feeding a short pass inside the penalty area to
LEAVING IT LATE: Rakuten added late runs last night to add to wins on Wednesday against the Brothers and the Lions on Friday that went down to the last batter The Rakuten Monkeys rallied to post three late runs for another close win, prevailing 5-3 over the Uni-President Lions yesterday as Taiwan’s second-half CPBL season got started with lower scoring output, but exciting finishes. It was Rakuten’s third win in a row. In two games this week, they seized victory in dramatic fashion with their last at-bat and have drawn level with the CTBC Brothers on top of the table after yesterday’s results, 0.5 games in front of the Fubon Guardians and 1.5 games ahead of the Lions. It was tied at 1-1 early, with Rakuten hosting the Lions at the Taoyuan Intenational
STAYING COOL: Hamilton said that his ‘heart nearly stopped’ when he noticed the puncture, but he kept going to beat Alain Prost’s total of six home wins in France Lewis Hamilton said he feared he might not make it home when a last lap puncture almost derailed his charge to a record seventh British Grand Prix victory on Sunday. “I didn’t think I would make it round the last two corners,” the world champion said. The front left tire of his Mercedes had delaminated and deflated on his final lap, leaving the six-time world champion to nurse his vehicle to the finish as second-placed Max Verstappen hunted him down. “I just can’t believe it,” Hamilton said. “It was heart-stopping. I backed off and stayed chilled and was so glad it happened on
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