Jenson Brooksby held off three straight match points during the third-set tiebreaker while recovering for a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6) victory over Alejandro Tabilo of Chile in the second round of the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston.
The American was all but done when trailing 6-3 in the tiebreak. After saving the match points, he won the following two points to take the match.
Brooksby had a 32-23 edge in winners and committed 33 unforced errors to Tabilo’s 52. Also, Colton Smith defeated Ethan Quinn 6-3, 6-4 in a battle of Americans.
Top-seeded Tommy Paul dropped the first set but recovered to beat Chilean wild-card entrant Cristian Garin 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5), despite committing 47 unforced errors to 26 for Garin.
Paul accrued 34 winners to Garin’s 26 and won four points on the Chilean’s serve in the third-set tiebreaker to avoid the upset. Paul, who will face Smith in the quarterfinals, also had a 7-2 edge in aces.
American Aleksandar Kovacevic had a much easier time, sweeping French qualifier Corentin Denolly 6-3, 6-3. Kovacevic, who will take on Brooksby in the quarterfinals, notched eight aces and took advantage of eight double faults by Denolly.
Bucharest Open
Third-seeded Flavio Cobolli of Italy hit 33 winners while registering a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Frenchman Richard Gasquet to advance to the quarterfinals in Romania.
Cobolli overcame six double faults and 45 unforced errors to win the match. Gasquet had just 12 winners against 33 unforced errors.
Cobolli next faces Austria’s Filip Misolic, who rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over eighth-seeded Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina. Francisco Comesana also advanced with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut while the match between top-seeded Sebastian Baez of Argentina and Gabriel Diallo of Canada was halted by rain after both players won a set.
Grand Prix Hassan II
Third-seeded Alexandre Muller of France rallied for a 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4 victory over Hugo Dellien of Bolivia in the second round at Marrakech, Morocco.
Muller had a 29-23 edge in winners while moving into the quarterfinals. He will next face Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak, who notched a 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory over Jesper de Jong of the Netherlands.
In other second-round matches, fourth-seeded Nuno Borges of Portugal defeated Belgium’s Raphael Collignon 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (0), and fifth-seeded Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena was a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Finland’s Otto Virtanen. In first-round play, No. 7 seed Luciano Darderi of Italy beat Tristan Boyer 6-4, 6-4 and Czech Vit Kopriva rallied for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Croatia’s Borna Gojo.
–Field Level Media
