Dominik Koepfer advances to Winston-Salem quarters

[August 24, 2021]   Dominik Koepfer became the first player to reach the quarterfinals of the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Open, rallying past Italy's Marco Cecchinato 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 on Monday.

The 16th-seeded German prevailed in a match that saw both players struggle on serve. Koepfer had nine aces and nine double faults while Cecchinato had eight of each.

In the day's only other second-round match, 14th-seeded Richard Gasquet of France edged Egor Gerasimov of Belarus 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6). Gerasimov had a set point to level the match at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreaker, but Gasquet captured the next three points to seal the match.

Both U.S. players on court Monday lost their first-round matches. Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori downed Denis Kudla 6-3, 6-4, and Australia's Alexei Popyrin ousted Steve Johnson 7-5, 6-4.

Also advancing to the second round were Belarus' Ilya Ivashka, Australia's Jordan Thompson, Argentina's Federico Coria, Italy's Gianluca Mager, Japan's Yosuke Watanuki and France's Lucas Pouille.

--Field Level Media

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