World No. 7 Andrey Rublev on Wednesday saved three match points before defeating Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles at the Hamburg European Open.
Second seed Rublev, fresh from lifting the Bastad title at the weekend, came through 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (9/7) against his 54th-ranked opponent.
Rublev rallied from 4/6 in the third-set tiebreak and saved his third match point at 6/7 with a blistering forehand winner.
Photo: AP
“I was playing well and it was under control, but somehow I lost the first set and was frustrated,” Rublev said. “I came back and recovered mentally, and won a really good second set. The third set was tough. I started to get tired and nervous, because the score is going to the tiebreak and I didn’t have many chances to break him. When I went 0/3, I started to stress a lot, but then I played two amazing rallies and told myself to keep fighting, keep fighting.”
Next up for the Russian is a second-round match with Daniel Altmaier.
Top seed and fourth-ranked Casper Ruud bounced back from his Bastad final defeat to Rublev to defeat Argentina’s Sebastian Baez 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
It was the Norwegian’s 21st ATP Tour-level clay-court win of the season.
“It was really tough,” Ruud said. “Sebastian is a great fighter. He has taken big steps in the past year, so it was always going to be a tough challenge.”
French Open runner-up Ruud next takes on qualifier Cristian Garin.
Alexander Zverev reached the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 7-5 win over fellow German Maximilian Marterer.
Zverev next plays 19-year-old Frenchman Luca van Assche, who produced an upset 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 win over seventh seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Defending champion Lorenzo Musetti was to complete his second-round match against Jozef Kovalik yesterday after play stopped with Kovalik leading the Italian 6-3, 1-4.
Just two seeded players remain in the quarter-finals of the women’s singles after sixth seed Yulia Putintseva was upset 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 by Jule Niemeier in their second-round match.
Arantxa Rus, seeded seventh, won 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 against Nadia Podoroska. Rus joins defending champion Bernarda Pera, seeded third, in the last eight and next plays Eva Lys.
Noma Noha Akugue, a 19-year-old German, reached the quarter-finals of her first WTA Tour main draw in dramatic style after recovering from a disastrous start and saving two match points in a 0-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 win over Storm Hunter.
Noha Akugue, who was born in the Hamburg suburbs, was a wild-card entry for the tournament. Hunter was herself coming off an upset win after beating top seed Donna Vekic in the first round.
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