Schwartzman Moves Closer to Second Istanbul Title

Third seed Diego Schwartzman is still in contention to defend his crown at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open, advancing to the quarter-finals on Thursday with a convincing 6-1, 6-3 win over Jordan Thompson.

The Argentine didn’t drop serve and broke Thompson four times to reach the last eight in one hour and 21 minutes. Schwartzman has been impressive on the clay so far this season, reaching the quarter-finals at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.

“I always like to be in Istanbul. It’s my third time here and I always play really well,” said Schwartzman. “I don’t know why, but I always have a lot of confidence on this Centre Court.”

 Watch Live On TennisTV

 Watch Full Match Replays

Awaiting him is Dusan Lajovic, who rallied to defeat Mikhail Youzhny 3-6, 6-0, 6-3. The Serbian is through to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final of 2017, but also produced an impressive result in March by coming through qualifying to reach the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open.

“I had a lot of opportunities in the first set, but I kept calm after and started playing more aggressively from the baseline,” said Lajovic. “I’ve lost in three sets the past two weeks, so this week gives me a lot of confidence. I’m eager to play against Diego tomorrow.”

Lajovic improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Youzhny to 2-0. He also leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Schwartzman 1-0, scoring a 2015 Davis Cup win for Serbia in their quarter-final tie against Argentina.

Fellow Serbian Laslo Djere continued his rich run of form by defeating fourth seed Paolo Lorenzi 6-4, 6-3. The 21 year old, who received special exempt status into the main draw after reaching the semi-finals last week at the Gazprom Hungarian Open, broke Lorenzi twice in each set to secure the win in 77 minutes.

“I started to play really good this year in Marrakech and have kept going since then. I had a tough pre-season and worked a lot, so I knew it had to pay off,” said Djere. “I’m motivated on the court now and have confidence, so I feel I can beat anybody.”

Next up for the World No. 153 in the Emirates ATP Rankings is another Serbian in fifth seed Viktor Troicki, who defeated #NextGenATP Russian Karen Khachanov 6-4, 7-6(5). Troicki saved a set point on his serve at 4-5 in the second set before eventually wrapping up the win. Troicki now leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Khachanov to 2-1, with both wins coming this year. 

DOUBLES

Czech duo Roman Jebavy and Jiri Vesely are through to the semi-finals after defeating second seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Dominic Inglot 6-2, 1-6, 10-4. They’ll play Aussies John-Patrick Smith and Thompson, who needed just 55 minutes to ease past Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrei Vasilevski 6-1, 6-3.