American Taylor Fritz, the second seed, avoided the disaster that befell top seed John Isner in his opener by beating American qualifier Kevin King 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday to advance to the quarter-finals of the BB&T Atlanta Open.
With Isner losing his first match in the hardcourt tournament a day earlier, Fritz was the highest-seeded player remaining in the tournament before he played a point in the event. After the players held serve in the first five games, Fritz broke King’s serve twice to close out the first set. Fritz broke King early in Set 2 to grab a 3-0 lead and cruised from there.
Third-seeded Alex de Minaur of Australia also advanced, beating unseeded American Bradley Klahn 6-4, 6-4. Bernard Tomic beat Matthew Ebden 6-4, 7-6 (3) in a matchup of Australians, while eighth-seeded Ugo Humbert of France was upset by Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic in the day’s most lopsided match, 6-2, 6-2.
Hamburg European Open
The second and third seeds also won on the clay in Germany, with No. 2 Alexander Zverev of Germany beating Argentina’s Federico Delbonis 6-4, 7-6 (2), and third-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy taking down Germany’s Rudolf Molleker 7-5, 6-4 in the Round of 16.
Another German, seventh-seeded Jan-Lennard Struff, fell victim to upset as Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta took him down 6-1, 7-6 (4). Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic beat Martin Klizan of Slovakia 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-1 in the day’s most competitive match.
The top four seeds remain as the tournament enters the quarter-finals, but they are the only four seeded players left.
J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad
Top-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain topped countryman Jaume Munar 7-6 (7), 6-4 as all four seeded players in action Thursday won on the clay in Gstadd, Switzerland.
Dusan Lajovic of Serbia, the third seed, needed three sets to top Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (2), while seventh-seeded Pablo Andujar of Spain also needed three sets to get by unseeded Taro Daniel of Japan, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (2).
Fifth-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal swept Italian qualifier Gian Marco Moroni 6-4, 6-4. Sixth-seeded Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain, a winner on Wednesday, is the only other seeded player to make it to the quarters.
