Tsitsipas beats Hurkacz to reach Rotterdam quarters

Rotterdam, Mar 05 (AP): Stefanos Tsitsipas held off a stubborn challenge from Hubert Hurkacz to reach the quarterfinals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 win on Thursday.
Hurkacz saved a match point 5-4 in the decider and then came within two points of forcing a tiebreaker. Tsitsipas is 8-1 in matches in 2021, with his sole loss coming to Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open semi-finals.
Tsitsipas will next face Russian player Karen Khachanov, who spent Thursday playing doubles after beating Cameron Norrie in the second round Wednesday. Qualifier Jeremy Chardy upset sixth-seeded David Goffin 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) to progress to his third tour quarterfinal this season. That’s a big improvement for the French player after Chardy went all of 2020 without recording back-to-back wins on tour in a 3-7 season. Chardy plays fourth-seeded Andrey Rublev. Tommy Paul of the U.S. beat Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1 to set up a quarterfinal against either Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or Marton Fucsovics. Paul hit a behind-the-back shot at 4-1 up in the deciding set, reacting quickly after Bublik’s backhand took a deflection off the net cord.