The Italian Jannik Sinnerfirst seed, and the Dane Holger Rune, third seed, confirmed this Wednesday their status as favorites in the Rotterdam tournament (Netherlands), by defeating their respective rivals in the first round, local Botic Van De Zandschulp and Russian Roman Saflullin; while Kazakh Alexander Bublik (no. 23 ATP) was surprised in the round of 16 by the current 309th in the world, the Canadian Milos Raonic, who managed to become number 3 in 2016.
Jannik Sinner, Australian Grand Slam champion, defeated Dutch Van De Zandschulp, ATP number 66, in one hour and 27 minutes in the doubles 6-3.
This is the second meeting this season between the two (they met in the first round of the Australian Open), marked by the superiority of the transalpine player in both sets.
The sinner went to court with undeniable strength. In the first set, the Dutchman dropped serve in the fifth game; He got it back in the sixth and eighth games, where he had two breaking balls, but he couldn’t do it and ended up paying dearly for it (6-3, match).
In the second moto Van De Zandschulp stuck to his mistakes; and although he chained three points, he was unable to take the set.
Jannik Sinner, 22, will face guest Gael Monfils (n.70), who finished Canadian qualifier Denis Shapovalov in two sets, 7-6(4) and 7-6(5).
After losing to him in 2019 at the United States Open, the Frenchman again closed the score in one hour and forty minutes with an advantage of his own.
Two complete sets, leading to the thirteenth game, with 100% of break points saved by both players, resulting in a tight wild card victory.
Holger Rune, who has already accumulated a victory over the 26-year-old Russian (they met for the first time in the semifinal of the tournament in Brisbane, Australia), once again outlined his position on the court.
The 20-year-old, who has only been a professional for four years, solved the first set in forty-nine minutes, taking advantage of his opponent’s lack of precision in the tenth game (6-4).
In the second set, Saflullin became a nightmare for Rune: after 2-2, the Dane slowed down a lot, especially on his serve. The ATP number 39 did not waste it and tied the four games in a row (6-2).
In the third and final set, the situation was reversed and Rune was back at it. With 6-1 in favor of the third seed, the Russian will have to say goodbye to the hard surface of Rotterdam.
In the round of 16, Holger Rune and Russian Alexander Shevchenko will meet again for the second time this year.
Alexander Bublik caused an upset when he was defeated by a smart Milos Raonic, who sealed a brilliant victory with the doubles 6-4 in just over an hour, and revived his time in third position in the ATP table.
This is the second time the rivals have met, after Milos achieved his first victory of 2020 at the Saint Petersburg Open (Russia).
Two service losses by the Kazakh, one in each set, in the third and fifth games respectively, dictated the end of his path on the Dutch fast court and sent Raonic to the quarterfinals.
Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, ranked 55th in the world, meanwhile, sealed his pass to the round of 16 by winning 7-6(5), 4-6 and 6-3 against the seventh seed, the Frenchman Ugo Humbert (n. 18 ATP)
It is a duel between two opponents who know each other better than anyone else; five confrontations, including this one, which turned into several victories for Ruusuvuori (they met in 2022 at Roland Garros, and three times in 2023, at the Masters 1000 in Madrid and Rome and at the Libema Open (Netherlands). ).
The first set remained even until the twelfth game (6-6), and had to be decided in a tie-break, where Umbert saw his serve threatened three times, two for his rival, and ended up surrendering. 5.
In the second set, when the first serve failed, Ruusuvuori was unable to close out the match, and handed the set to the Frenchman. The decision was settled in forty-one minutes with a brilliant 6-3 in favor of the tennis player from Helsinki.
Emil Ruusuvuori will face German Jan-Lennard Struff in the round of 16, who defeated Spanish Alejandro Davidovich (n.24) by 4-6, 7-6(5) and 7-6(4) in a long match of two hours and 28 minutes.
Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, seeded sixth on the Dutch hard court, defeated Italian Lorenzo Sonego in one hour and 34 minutes 7-6(4) 6-3, sealing his spot in the round of 16 where he will face Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.
Source: La Verdad
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