Halle (Germany), June 23 (IANS) Andrey Rublev, the 2021 finalist, booked his spot in the last-eight stage of the Terra Wortmann Open with a straight sets win against Yannick Hanfmann here.
Rublev delivered a solid display to hold off the World No. 53 Hanfmann, winning 7-6(5), 6-3 at the grass-court ATP 500 event. With this win, Rublev improves his record in Halle to 8-3.
Home favourite Hanfmann had led 5/3 in the first-set tie-break but was unable to push on and forge a repeat of his victory in the pair’s fourth-round meeting last month at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome.
After winning five of the final six points to claim the first-set tie-break, Rublev carried the momentum into the second set, in which he established an ultimately unassailable 4-0 lead.
With the OWL Arena roof closed during the second set to shelter the court from the torrential Halle rain, Rublev pushed on to a one-hour, 39-minute triumph in which he converted three of his six break points.
The World No. 7 will now prepare for his sixth tour-level quarterfinal of the season against last week’s ‘s-Hertogenbosch winner Tallon Griekspoor. The 25-year-old Rublev is a 13-time ATP Tour titlist and is chasing his maiden crown on grass this week in Germany.
Griekspoor saved a match point against defending champion Hubert Hurkacz to notch a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(8) victory and extend his winning run to seven matches. The Dutchman knocked off the sixth seed on his fifth match point after Hurkacz battled back from 3/6 in the decisive tie-break to move within one point of the quarter-finals at 8/7.
The result levels the pair’s ATP head-to-head series at 1-1 less than one month after Hurkacz downed Griekspoor in five sets in the French Open second round.
Entering Halle at a career-high ATP Ranking of World No. 29, Griekspoor is seeking the third ATP Tour title of both this season and his career.
–IANS
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