In a battle of Americans, 16th seed J.J. Wolf held off Michael Mmoh 6-4, 7-6 (5) on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington.
Wolf converted only three of 22 break-point opportunities as Mmoh battled him. Mmoh recorded more aces (16-10) and each player committed six double faults and made 16 unforced errors.
Also in the round of 16, fifth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria won in straight sets over Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland, 6-4, 6-3, in one hour, 47 minutes.
Dimitrov had more aces (4-2) and winners (22-14) but also more double faults (4-1) than his opponent. Dimitrov converted three of nine break points, to one of three for Ruusuvuori.
Ugo Humbert, the 13th seed from France, dispatched Japan’s Yosuke Watanuki 6-0, 6-2.
Two matches, 11th-seeded Christopher Eubanks of the United States vs. Jordan Thompson of Australia and 12th-seeded Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands vs. Gael Monfils of France, were suspended until Friday due to rain. The scheduled match between local favorite Frances Tiafoe, the No. 2 seed, and China’s Juncheng Shang was postponed until Friday.
Generali Open
Austrian Dominic Thiem dropped serve in the opening game but didn’t lose a break point the rest of the quarterfinal match in defeating France’s Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in Kitzbuhel, Austria.
Thiem, formerly ranked third in the world, has not played in a tour final since the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals.
He won 78.8 percent of his first-serve points (41 of 52) but converted just two of 10 break-point opportunities.
Thiem is slated to play Friday in the semifinals against Serbian Laslo Djere, the fifth seed who beat Argentine third seed Pedro Cachin, 6-4, 6-2.
Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the top seed, lost the first set before topping Colombia’s Daniel Elahi Galan 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4. Etcheverry faces countryman Sebastian Baez, who eliminated Slovakia’s Alex Molcan 6-4, 6-3.
Mifel Tennis Open
Top-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece played deep into the night, beating sixth-seeded Nicolas Jarry of Chile 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 6-2 in a quarterfinal match at Los Cabos, Mexico.
The 2-hour, 57-minute match ended after 1 a.m. local time. Tsitsipas saved the only break point he faced while converting half of his six break opportunities.
The fans in Los Cabos were set to get even more wee-hours action, as fourth-seeded Borna Coric of Croatia and eighth-seeded Ilya Ivashka of Belarus took the court shortly after the Tsitsipas-Jarry match ended.
In earlier Thursday action, fifth-seeded Alex de Minaur of Australia and seventh-seeded Dominik Koepfer of Germany beat U.S. opponents to set up a semifinal showdown. de Minaur beat third-seeded Tommy Paul 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, and Koepfer got past Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 7-5.
–Field Level Media
