Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Top seed Karen Khachanov of Russia defeated Australian qualifier Alex Bolt 6-4, 6-4 to earn his first ATP Tour win since June at the Zhuhai Championships on Friday in China.
Khachanov has only played in one other event since suffering a stress fracture in his back at the French Open. After getting a bye into the Round of 16 in Zhuhai as the No. 1 seed, he saved all 10 break points he faced to dispatch Bolt in an hour and 50 minutes.
He will face sixth-seeded American Mackenzie McDonald in the quarterfinals after McDonald rallied past Belgium’s Kimmer Coppejans 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
No. 8 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan got past South African Lloyd Harris 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), and No. 3 seed Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany outlasted Chile’s Cristian Garin 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. Nishioka and Struff will meet in the quarters.
Chengdu Open
Russia’s Roman Safiullin upset No. 4 seed Daniel Evans of Great Britain 6-3, 6-3 elsewhere in China.
Evans had a 6-5 edge in aces but also committed five double faults to Safiullin’s two. Safiullin converted four of six break-point opportunities while saving three of the four break points he faced.
Safiullin will face Australia’s Jordan Thompson in the quarterfinals. Thompson was a 6-1, 7-6 (1) winner over Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic.
Another Australian, Christopher O’Connell, advanced past Japan’s Taro Daniel 7-6 (10), 6-4. O’Connell fell behind 5-2 in the first-set tiebreaker and saved four set points before scoring the last three points of the tiebreaker to take control from Daniel.
–Field Level Media