Verdasco Into Stockholm QFs Again
Eighth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco advanced to the Intrum Stockholm Open quarter-finals for the fourth time (also 2004, 2013-14) on Wednesday after he knocked out lucky loser Jurgen Zopp of Estonia 6-4, 6-2 in 73 minutes. It was his 25th match win of the year, which includes a run to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships final (l. to Murray) in February. He awaits the winner of second-seeded South African Kevin Anderson, who is attempting to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, or South Korean Hyeon Chung, who is battling to book a spot at the Next Gen ATP Finals.
In remaining first-round play, Polish qualifier Jerzy Janowicz beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in 87 minutes to set up a clash against fourth-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro. German Jan-Lennard Struff saved three match points in beating Marius Copil of Romania for a meeting against top seed and Nitto ATP Finals contender Grigor Dimitrov. Struff triumphed 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(12) in two hours and 11 minutes, saving match points at 4-5, 30/40 and at 6/7 and 10/11 in the deciding set tie-break.
Nitto ATP Finals Contender Start Doubles Campaign
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, who are currently No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London added 45 points for their 6-3, 6-4 first-round win over Jonathan Eysseric and Franko Skugor. The Austrian-Croatian team, now on 2,715 points are 305 points behind eighth-placed Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram. The pair will next face Jonathon Erlich and Nikola Mektic.