ATP roundup: Top-seeded Pouille tumbles in Montpellier

[February 08, 2019]  Cypriot veteran Marcos Baghdatis advanced to the quarterfinals of the Open Sud de France with a 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 6-4 upset of top-seeded Lucas Pouille on Thursday in Montpellier, France.

Pouille, a 24-year-old Frenchman, was the tournament's defending champion.

Baghdatis, 33, has just four career ATP Tour singles titles, none since 2010. He is currently ranked 128th in the world. His quarterfinal opponent also survived a three-set thriller Thursday, as Moldova's Radu Albot got past Latvia's Ernests Gulbis 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4.

Also advancing to a quarterfinal matchup were third-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada and seventh-seeded Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France. Shapovalov defeated Spain's Marcel Granollers 6-4, 7-6 (1), and Herbert topped Belarus' Ilya Ivashka 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Cordoba Open

Three Argentinian players advanced to the quarterfinals of the event in Cordoba, Argentina.

Third-seeded Diego Schwartzman started slowly but pulled away for a 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-0 win over Italy's Alessandro Giannessi. Eighth-seeded Guido Pella defeated Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 7-6 (4), and Federico Delbonis rallied past Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2.

The event's top seed, Italy's Fabio Fognini, offered little resistance in a 6-1, 6-4 loss to Slovenia's Aljaz Bedene. Fognini didn't manage a single ace, and he won just 43 percent of his service points.

France's Lucas Pouille in action during his match against Serbia's Novak Djokovic. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Other second-round winners were Spain's Jaume Munar, who defeated second-seeded Marco Cecchinato of Italy 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, and Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, who knocked off sixth-seeded Malek Jaziri Tunisia 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Sofia Open

Third-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia saved five of the six break points he faced, and he came back for a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 win over the Netherlands' Robin Haase in the second round at Sofia, Bulgaria.

Sixth-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain also needed three sets to advance to the quarterfinals, defeating Romania's Marius Copil 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. Second-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and seventh-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils moved on with straight-set wins.

Slovakia's Martin Klizan and Hungary's Marton Fucsovics also produced second-round wins.

--Field Level Media

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