(Hamburg) Norway’s Casper Ruud was “destroyed” in the first set in Hamburg on Thursday before beating Chile’s Cristian Garin 1-6, 6-2, 6-2.
The fourth racket in the world therefore reached the quarter-finals in this tournament on clay.
Ruud will face 19-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fils there.
Despite his 120th rank at the ATP, Garin had the tools to give Ruud a hard time. He won five tournaments on clay before recent physical problems.
He had also won three of his four matches against Ruud, before the duel of the day.
Garin broke Ruud’s serve in the first game of the match and then won the first set in 28 minutes.
The Norwegian, however, managed a break at 2-2 in the second set, then spinning to victory.
“I was destroyed in the first set, I really didn’t do anything to play at his level,” Ruud said. I am very happy to have continued to fight until the end. »
Second-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev was upset 6-2, 6-2 by Germany’s Daniel Altmaier, 61st in the world. The latter will cross swords with the Chinese Zhizheng Zhang (79th), for a place in the semi-finals.
Last year’s champion, Italian Lorenzo Musetti won 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 against Slovak Jozef Kovalik.
Germany’s Noha Akugue, 19, is attracting attention in her first appearance in the main draw of a WTA tournament by invitation.
Hailing from the suburbs of Hamburg and ranked 207th in the world, she was in tears after earning her place in the semi-finals by virtue of a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Italy’s Martina Trevisan ( 76th).
Akugue will face another 19-year-old player, Russian Diana Shnaider (101st), with a ticket to the final at stake. Shnaider surprised by knocking out defending champion Bernarda Pera.
Australian Daria Saville has reached her first WTA semi-final, despite a long break for knee treatment.
She defeated Germany’s Jule Niemeier 6-3, 6-2. She has an appointment with the Dutch Arantxa Rus, who defeated the German Eva Lys 6-2 and 6-2.
