Tipsarevic Beats Nitto ATP Finals Contender Fognini In Stockholm
Janko Tipsarevic postponed his retirement plans to another day on Thursday with an upset win at the Intrum Stockholm Open.
The former World No. 8, who is playing his final ATP Tour tournament, won 18 of 22 first-service points to knock out Nitto ATP Finals contender Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-1 in 62 minutes.
"In one word, it's unexpected," Tipsarevic told ATPTour.com. "I will tell you that. First of all, I barely got in. I didn't realise I'd play this week and beating a Top 10 player 1 & 1, makes me incredibly happy and proud. I didn't give him an opportunity to get back into the match."
It’s a blow for Fognini, the 2017-18 Stockholm semi-finalist, who is currently in 11th place in the 2019 ATP Race To London for a spot at the season finale, to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November.
Tipsarevic will now play Japanese lucky loser Yuichi Sugita, who overcame Stefano Travaglia of Italy 7-6(6), 6-4 in one hour and 46 minutes. Travaglia hit 16 aces and could not convert a set point at 6/5 in the first-set tie-break.
“I am happy to make a quarter-final at tour-level this year,” Sugita, who also reached the 2017 quarter-finals, told ATPTour.com. “I played well, I am solid now and my tennis is back.”
Tipsarevic said, "Tomorrow, will be extremely tricky against Sugita and it will be a baseline battle."
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In a #NextGenATP battle, Canadian Denis Shapovalov beat Aussie Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 7-6(3) to reach the quarter-finals. Shapovalov won 92 per cent (33/36) of his first-serve points and saved four of five break points.
“It was really tough playing against Alexei... He's got a really big serve so I'm really happy to get the win today. I think I played really well. I think we both played a really good match,” Shapovalov said.
He will next face Germany's Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, who reached the Gstaad final in July (l. to Ramos-Vinolas). Stebe beat #NextGenATP Swede Mikael Ymer 6-0, 7-6(5) in one hour, 42 minutes.
Earlier in the day, Pablo Carreno Busta advanced to his seventh ATP Tour quarter-final of the year. The fifth-seeded Spaniard knocked out Gianluca Mager, a lucky loser from Italy, 6-3, 7-6(2) in 87 minutes and now plays American Sam Querrey on Friday. Carreno Busta, who is now 27-19 on the season, captured his first singles title since May 2017 at the Chengdu Open (d. Bublik) three weeks ago.