World No. 1 Novak Djokovic rallied past French teenager Luca Van Assche 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the Srpska Open on Wednesday in Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The top-seeded Serbian was also down an early break in the deciding set before finishing off the two-hour, 38-minute clash. Djokovic will face either countryman Dusan Lajovic or No. 8 Gregoire Barrere of France in the quarterfinals.
Serbia’s Laslo Djere knocked off No. 3 seed Borna Coric of Croatia 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-4 and Slovakia’s Alex Molcan beat Australia’s Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-5 in other second-round action.
Finishing up the first round, No. 6 Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic defeated French wild card Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-3, wild card Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina beat Britain lucky loser Liam Broady 6-3, 6-0 and Peru’s Juan Pablo Varillas took down Hugo Gaston of France 7-5, 6-3.
Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell
No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 win against Argentina’s Pedro Cachin in second-round action in Spain.
Tsitsipas converted all three break chances and never faced a break point during the 79-minute match. His next opponent is No. 14 seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada, a 6-4, 6-3 winner against Slovakia qualifier Jozef Kovalik.
Seeded players were a perfect 11-0 on the day, with all of them winning in straight sets.
Also advancing were No. 4 Jannik Sinner of Italy, No. 6 Karen Khachanov of Russia, No. 7 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, No. 8 Alex de Minaur of Australia, No. 9 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, No. 11 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, No. 12 Daniel Evans of Great Britain, No. 15 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina and No. 16 Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan.
BMW Open
Rain washed out most of the day’s play in Munich, Germany.
Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev was leading German wild card Daniel Altmaier 4-6, 7-6 (2), 3-0 when play was suspended.
–Field Level Media