Quarterfinal Action at Sardinia, St. Petersburg & Cologne Today: Zverev, Rublev & Shapovalov Among Those in Action

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Things are heating up quickly in the three ATP tournaments being played this week as some of the top players in the world join hands to make up a delicious-looking quarterfinal lineup at the Sardinia Open, St. Petersburg Open and Cologne Open.

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Fabio Fognini’s withdrawal due to getting positive for coronavirus might have robbed the sheen out of the new ATP tournament in Sardinia, but that can only mean one thing – it’s an open competition and anyone can go on to clinch the title.

The only seeded player left in that tournament now is the fourth seeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas as he will be up against local and wildcard Marco Cecchinato for a place in the semifinal. This Ramos-Vinolas v Cecchinato match will be the third on court with the matches beginning at 10 am local time.

The first match, at that starting time, will be between Laslo Djere and Jiri Vesely. Djere will be on a high after having bumped out second seeded Dusan Lajovic and will take a lot of confidence into his quarterfinal.

Following that, two players ranked outside the top 100, from almost different eras, will face off for a place in the semifinal. Yannick Hanfmann has been a late bloomer and enjoying an excellent run this year and he will be up against teenager and wild-card Italian Lorenzo Musetti. The Hanfmann-Musetti encounter is expected to begin at around 12 noon local time.

In the last match of the day at Sardinia, lucky loser Danilo Petrovic will look to extend his fortune against Argentina’s Federico Delbonis. Petrovic had been knocked out of the qualifiers but the withdrawal of Fognini didn’t allow him a place in the main draw but also a direct entry into the second round. A win in that opener has taken him to the quarterfinal where he faces a clay-court specialist.

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Over at Cologne, it’s local lad and top seed Alexander Zverev who will be the first on court for his quarterfinal. The German will be up against South Africa qualifier Lloyd Harris and Zverev shouldn’t have too many issues getting past him.

That will be followed by Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina facing Austrian Dennis Novak for a place in the last four, before Canada’s third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime takes to court. Auger-Aliassime will up against Radu Albot in what could turn out to be a one-sided quarterfinal.

Potentially, the most thrilling quarterfinal could be the last one of the day when the second seeded Roberto Bautista-Agut faces Hubert Hurkacz of Poland in what will be their second meeting in as many years. The Spaniard holds the edge in this one but Hurkacz has shown signs of the old sparkle in recent times.

St. Petersburg is hosting an ATP 500 event and while it has already lost its top seed Daniil Medvedev – who in turn lost at least one of his racquets by the end of the match – there are a few of the other top guns still in action today.

 

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First up will be the third seeded and the latest to join the top 10 brigade, Andrey Rublev and he will be up against Britain’s Cameron Norrie. The kind of form Rublev is in, he starts a favourite here and not just in this match.

Second seeded Denis Shapovalov will take to the court next as he plays the fifth seeded Stan Wawrinka who has been scrappy so far but won both his rounds. The Shapovalov v Wawrinka encounter begins at around 3 pm local time.

Borna Coric, seeded seventh, has American Reilly Opelka, the Medvedev vanquisher, as his quarterfinal opponent, while one of the matches to watch out for will be last on centre court when Milos Raonic takes on Karen Khachanov.

About Suneer Chowdhary 2086 Articles
Suneer is a Mumbai-based freelance sports journalist with a special affinity towards cricket and tennis. He has also covered six ICC tournaments including Cricket World Cups and Champions Trophy.

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