Belgium’s David Goffin had little trouble eliminating No. 12 seed Arthur Rinderknech of France from the Winston-Salem Open on Wednesday, recording a 6-3, 6-3 sweep in the third round at North Carolina.
Rinderknech had 23 winners to Goffin’s 15, but he was weighed down by 19 unforced errors. Goffin managed to win 26 of 31 first-serve points and is off to the quarterfinals to face No. 16 seed Rinky Hijikata of Australia, a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 winner over Croatian Borna Coric.
In other matches, 15th-seeded Pavel Kotov of Russia beat American and lucky loser Zachary Svajda 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, while Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego, the No. 10 seed, advanced to the next round via walkover.
American qualifier Learner Tien also prevailed, defeating Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-4, 6-3.
No. 11 seed Alex Michelsen of the United States thrashed Belgium’s Zizou Bergs 6-1, 6-2, and Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta got past Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
In the tightest finish of the day, the United States’ Christopher Eubanks edged 17th-seeded Russian Roman Safiullin 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (8). Safiullin failed to take advantage of two match points in the third-set tiebreaker.
–Field Level Media
