Canadian Denis Shapovalov defeated Alex Molcan of Slovakia 6-4, 6-0 Wednesday to lead a parade of top seeds into the quarterfinals of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open at Doha, Qatar.
The top-seeded Shapovalov needed just 53 minutes to dispatch Molcan and advance. Shapovalov will play Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, who rallied to upset No. 7 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4 in two hours, four minutes.
Second-seeded Robert Bautista Agut of Spain swept Brit Andy Murray 6-0, 1-1: No. 3 Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia breezed past lucky loser Elias Ymer of Sweden 6-4, 7-5, and fourth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia made it a sweep of top four seeds, defeating Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands 6-3, 7-5.
No. 5 seed Daniel Evans lost to Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in three sets. No. 6 Karen Khachanov of Russia advanced, as did Marton Fucsovics of Hungary.
Open 13 Provence
Second-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia had to rally to defeat Richard Gasquet of France 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) in Round of 16 action at Marseilles, France.
Rublev trailed 5-2 in the third set but was able to fend off Gasquet for the win in two hours, 25 minutes.
Fellow Russian and No. 4 seed Aslan Karatsev advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (1) win over Denmark’s Holger Rune. Fifth-seeded Ilya Ivashka of Belarus beat Italy’s Stefano Travaglia 6-1, 6-3.
In the Round of 32, France’s Lucas Pouille defeated No. 6 seed Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 7-5, 3-6, 6-1. Ninth-seeded Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi beat Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak 7-6 (1), 6-4.
Delray Beach Open
The seeded players in action Wednesday had no trouble in their second-round matches, with all three advancing to the quarterfinals in straight sets.
Top-seeded Cameron Norrie of Great Britain topped Germany’s Oscar Otte 6-3, 7-5. Fourth-seeded Tommy Paul of the United States routed Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-2, 6-0, and fifth-seeded Florida native Sebastian Korda got past Italy’s Andreas Seppi 7-5, 6-3. In a matchup of unseeded U.S. players, Stefan Kozlov beat Steve Johnson 6-1, 6-3.
Paul and Kozlov will square off in the quarterfinals on Friday, and Norrie will oppose Korda.
Rio Open
It was a rough day for Spaniards in Rio de Janeiro, with the loser in all four second-round matches hailing from Spain. The lone Spanish winner, Pablo Andujar, beat countryman Albert Ramos-Vinolas, the eighth seeded, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.
Italy’s Fabio Fognini came from behind to oust fourth-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, and third-seeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina crushed Pedro Martinez 6-1, 6-1. Another Argentinian, Federico Coria, topped Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-4.
In the quarterfinals on Friday, Fognini will meet Coria while Schwartzman will take on Andujar.
–Field Level Media
