the greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, first favourite, authoritatively beat Belarusian Ilya Ivashka (6-4, 6-1) to reach the quarterfinals of the Rotterdam tournament (Netherlands), where he will face the Australian Alex de Miñaur.
The Greek tennis player, fourth in the world, aspires in the Dutch competition to achieve the first title of the year. Semifinalist at the Australian Open, his only tournament of 2022 besides the ATP Cup, it took him 72 minutes to beat the player from Minsk, whom he had never met before.
Tsitsipas is now waiting for the Australian Alex de Miñaur in search of a place in the semifinals, to which the defending champion, the Russian Andrei Rublev, also aspires, second favoritewho beat South Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon by a double 6-3, and the Czech Jiri Leheckacoming from the previous phase, which left the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp on the way (1-6, 6-4 and 6-4).
Lehecka will face the Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the quarterfinals. Rublev will play against the winner of the duel between the Dutch Tallon Griekspoorguest of the tournament, and the Hungarian Martin Fucsovics.
Ostapenko is placed in quarters; Begu defeats Kvitova
The Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, seventh favourite, overwhelmed the German Andrea Petkovic (6-1 and 6-2) to reach the quarterfinals of the Saint Petersburg tournament completed by the Czech Tereza Martincova, the Romanian Irina Camelia Begu and the Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Ostapenko, twenty-fifth in the world, it took 58 minutes to resolve the clash with Petkovic that never bothered his rival. The Latvian, champion of Roland Garros in 2017, aspires in Saint Petersburg to the first success of 2022 and the fifth of her career.
In Saint Petersburg quarterfinals will face the Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich who also had no complications to eliminate the Romanian Adina Jaqueline Cristian 6-2 and 6-3.
On the other side of the table, the Czech Tereza Martincova benefited from the absence of Elena Rybakina, sick leave. Martincova will face the Romanian Irina Camelia Begu in the quarterfinals who won for the first time Petra Kvitova, winner in Saint Petersburg in 2018, 6-4 and 6-1.