Carlos Alcaraz rallied from an early break to defeat countryman Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 7-5 and advance to the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Thursday in Barcelona, Spain.
Alcaraz improved to 9-1 against fellow Spaniards, with his only blemish coming in a loss to Rafael Nadal. Alcaraz will face another Spaniard, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, in Friday’s quarterfinal round. Fokina defeated Emil Ruusuvuori in straight sets to advance.
Second-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Denis Shapovalov in straight sets but No. 3 Casper Ruud dropped a straight-sets decision to No. 15 Francisco Cerundolo on the clay.
Fourth-seeded Jannik Sinner advanced as did No. 8 Alex de Minaur (walkover), No. 9 Lorenzo Musetti and 12th-seeded Daniel Evans.
Sprska Open
Second-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia made quick work of Juan Pablo Varillas, needing just 70 minutes to dispatch the Peruvian 6-2, 6-2 in Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Rublev will play local favorite and wild card Damir Dzumhur in the quarterfinals. Dzumhur, from Sarajevo, upset No. 7 Richard Gasquet 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (3) to advance. Gasquet was one of two Frenchmen to be upset; No. 8 Gregoire Barrere fell to Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-0.
Lajovic draws countryman and No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic in the quarters.
Fourth-seeded Miomir Kecmanovic and No. 6 Jiri Lehecka also advanced with straight-set victories.
BMW Open
Third-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany was upset by Australian Christopher O’Connell, the world No. 82, 7-6 (2), 6-4 in Munich, Germany.
O’Connell draws the 208th-ranked player in the world, Flavio Cobolli of Italy, in the quarterfinals. Cobolli bested German Oscar Otte 6-0, 3-6, 6-3.
Top-seeded Holger Rune of Denmark defeated Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-4 to advance. Germans went 0-4 on the day.
Thursday’s other winners included No. 2 Taylor Fritz, No. 4 Botic van de Zandschulp, Cristian Garin, Marcos Giron and Aslan Karatsev.
–Field Level Media