Gilles Simon overcame a challenge from fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu to prevail 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 at the Millennium Estoril Open on Thursday. The top seed, who trailed the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 1-3 heading into the match, landed fewer than half of his first serves on the day, but won 61 per cent of second serve points to advance.

In his third ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season (Miami and Marrakech), Simon will take on Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, who beat Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-4, 7-5. It will be the pair’s first tour-level meeting.

“I needed to be focused all the time against Taro,” Carreno Busta said. “I almost lost the second set today. He practices in Valencia so he’s like a Spanish player. I know him well and he is tough.”

Home favourite Joao Sousa, seeded fourth, was eliminated by Nicolas Almagro 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the second round. The Spaniard fired 13 aces and broke serve four times to secure the win in one hour and 42 minutes. The 30 year old is into his second quarter-final of 2016, having made the final in Buenos Aires (l. to Thiem).

Top Seeds Beat Local Team In Doubles

Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski of Poland eliminated Portuguese Gastao Elias and Joao Sousa from doubles contention with a 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 quarter-final win. The top seeds landed 77 per cent of first serves and broke Elias/Sousa five times in the 75-minute encounter.

#NextGen player Borna Coric teamed up with countryman Franko Skugor to down Jonathan Erlich and Colin Fleming 6-4, 6-4. The Croats saved all three break points faced and will face Kubot/Matkowski in the semi-finals.

The Next Generation will take centre stage Friday when Nick Kyrgios and Borna Coric go head-to-head in the Millennium Estoril Open quarter-finals. Kyrgios, who celebrated his 21st birthday Wednesday, and the 19-year-old Coric lead the 21-and-under pack at respectively No. 20 and No. 40 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

While this may be the first time they will face off in ATP World Tour action, it wasn’t too long ago that the Australian and Croatian competed against each other on the ITF Junior Circuit. Kyrgios, 18 months Coric’s senior, claimed their two singles meetings – in the 2012 Osaka semi-finals and the 2013 Roehampton quarter-finals – in straight sets.

“The only thing I remember was the surface they were on,” said Kyrgios, who went on to win the title at both tournaments. “I played him once on grass and I think the other time was on hard court. He’s improved a lot, we’ve both improved, and we’ve both gone different paths. He’s developed in different ways. He’s a great player, but last time I played him was on the grass and I was a lot more comfortable, I think, on that surface. Tomorrow’s going to be a great match either way.”

Kyrgios and Coric made their tour-level breakthroughs in 2014 when they finished as the two teenagers in the Top 100. That season, Kyrgios defeated then-World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the fourth round on his Wimbledon debut. A few months later, Coric also defeated then-No. 3 Nadal to reach his first ATP World Tour semi-final in Basel; the result propelled him into the Top 100 and made him the winner of the inaugural ATP Star of Tomorrow presented by Emirates award, seizing the distinction of youngest player in the year-end Top 100 from Kyrgios.

Coric continued his rise in 2015, reaching a career-high No. 33 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in July. He began 2016 by reaching his first ATP World Tour final at the Aircel Chennai Open (l. to Wawrinka), and followed with a runner-up effort at the Grand Prix Hassan II earlier this month (l. to Delbonis).

“He was always a guy that was really good on both wings,” said Kyrgios. “Solid serve, solid returning. He’s developed every aspect of his game. He moves well now. He doesn’t really miss. He plays similar, but he’s just sort of gotten a lot better in every aspect.”

Kyrgios could say the same thing for himself. Since defeating Nadal at Wimbledon, Kyrgios has gone on to record six more Top 10 wins (7-13), most notably against No. 2 Roger Federer last year in Madrid. This past February, he became the first member of the Next Generation to win a singles title, recording Top 10 victories over Richard Gasquet and Tomas Berdych before defeating Marin Cilic in the Open 13 Provence final. He broke into the Top 20 earlier this month after defeating Milos Raonic to reach his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final in Miami.

“[Kyrgios] is the favourite so I have nothing to lose,” said Coric. “But I’ll never come into a match with the mindset that I can’t win. I’ll do my best but I’ll be there to win. It will be an enjoyable match for sure.”

Win or lose, Kyrgios anticipated the quarter-final clash to be the first of a bright new rivalry.  

“It’s important, but at the same time, I think we’re going to play a lot of times in the future as well so, to be honest, I don’t think it really matters,” said Kyrgios. “If he wins tomorrow, I’ll just say, ‘Good luck and go get your first title,’ and if I win, I’m going to come out the next day and just play again.”

Roger Federer has confirmed that he will take part in the Mutua Madrid Open, which starts on 1 May. Federer, No.3 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, is a three-time champion at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event (2006, 2009 and 2012).

Madrid was not on Federer’s schedule at the beginning of the year, but the Swiss’ agent, Tony Godsick, confirmed today that he will play. Last year, Federer lost in the second round to Nick Kyrgios, 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 7-6(12).

The 34 year old comes into the event with a 10-3 record in 2016. Madrid will be Federer’s second clay-court tournament of the season and his fourth of the year. He reached the final of Brisbane (l. to Raonic) and the semi-finals of the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic) before missing three months due to knee surgery. In his comeback event, he reached the quarter-finals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters before losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in three sets.

Stefan Kozlov has already had a successful April by matching the biggest result of his career on the ATP Challenger Tour, but the American teenager has now shown that he can excel on all surfaces.

Competing this week at the $50,000 event in Tallahassee, Florida, the 18-year-old has come through qualifying and prevailed in two grueling main draw matches. After advancing past Jose Hernandez-Fernandez in an opening-round match on Tuesday that lasted well over three hours, Kozlov recorded a huge upset on Wednesday by defeating No. 2 seed Gerald Melzer in three sets.

“It’s been a few tough matches, but I feel fine and I’m recovering well,” said Kozlov. “I played in the qualies on Stadium Court and also practised on it, so I knew what to expect.”

Kozlov enjoyed a stellar junior career that saw him reach the boys’ singles final at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2014, leading him to peak that year at No. 2 in the ITF Junior Rankings. That October, he reached the finals of the $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Sacramento, California. The feat made Kozlov the third-youngest American in a Challenger final, only behind Michael Chang and Andre Agassi.

After a somewhat more challenging 2015 season, Kozlov has rebounded strongly this year. In addition to winning three Futures titles, he also finished as runner-up earlier this month at the $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Le Gosier, Guadeloupe. He credits a new coaching arrangement with Stanford Boster with helping take his game to the next level.

“We started working about a month and a half ago. Before that, I was spending a lot of my time with my dad at his academy in Miami,” explained Kozlov. “My dad helped me get my rhythm back and now Stanford is opening up my game to a lot of different things. It’s been awesome.”

Kozlov is one of seven different American teenagers to reach an ATP Challenger Tour final since last October. Although having so many young players pushing each other up the Emirates ATP Rankings is motivating for him on the court, he’s also been able to develop a strong friendship off the court with #NextGen star Frances Tiafoe.

“We’re the best of friends on tour. We hang out a lot together and we’re pretty close. I stayed with him at his apartment a couple of times during the off-season and hung out with Michael Mmoh as well,” said Kozlov. “We’re both pushing each other to do well and now that we’re both in the Top 200, we want to get into the Top 100 and catch up with Taylor Fritz. It’s good to have someone like that doing so well because we were playing with him just a couple of months ago, so we know we can get there too.”

Kozlov’s performance this week in has already ensured that he will make his Top 200 debut when next week’s rankings are released. He’s been enjoying his time in Tallahassee “because it’s a well-run tournament and it’s close to home,” but is also looking forward to getting on the red clay of Europe next month.

“I didn’t think I was going to get my ranking high enough to head over to Europe, but then I had a couple of good weeks that put me over,” said Kozlov. “Playing qualies at Roland Garros is a milestone for me and I’m excited for it, so we’ll just see how it goes.”

Ivo Karlovic snapped an eight-match losing streak on Thursday to record the 300th match win of his career.

The 36-year-old Karlovic, who has struggled to overcome a left knee injury, reached the milestone by knocking out Dusan Lajovic 7-6(11), 7-6(7) at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open.

It was his fourth victory over Lajovic, who failed to convert five set point opportunities at 7/6, 9/8 and 11/10 in the first set tie-break and at 6/4 in the second set tie-break. Karlovic struck 13 aces, losing just five points on his first serve (47 of 52).

Karlovic will next challenge fifth seed Marcel Granollers, who downed Next Generation player Hyeon Chung 6-3, 6-4 in just under two hours.

Diego Schwartzman recorded the biggest match win of his career when the World No. 87 knocked out Bernard Tomic, the top seed at No. 23 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, 6-2, 6-2 in 64 minutes.

“I feel great here,” admitted Schwartzman, who lost to Roger Federer in last year’s semi-finals. “I’m playing well on these courts, which are slow. I tried to be focused today and I think I played a great match.”

Schwartzman goes onto face Damir Dzumhur, who defeated Illya Marchenko 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in two hours and 14 minutes. “Damir has played well this year and it will be a big match tomorrow,” said Schwartzman.

Top seed David Goffin, who is currently at No. 13 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, recorded his 19th match win of the season on Thursday to set up a quarter-final clash against Alexander Zverev at the BMW Open by FWU AG.

Goffin hit 10 aces and saved 10 of 14 break points in a two-hour 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 win over Victor Estrella Burgos. Zverev, who is a part of the ATP’s Next Generation, won his 15th match of 2016 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Lukas Rosol. He is now 1-3 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against the Czech.

Earlier in the day, fifth seed and 2014 finalist Fabio Fognini broke a two-match losing streak against Mikhail Kukushkin with a 6-3, 7-5 win. Kukushkin has previously beaten Fognini at Moscow in 2009 and 2014.

Fognini will contest his third ATP World Tour quarter-final of the year against lucky loser and World No. 139 Jozef Kovalik, who defeated qualifier Igor Sijsling 6-3, 6-4.

#NextGen stars Borna Coric and Nick Kyrgios are on a collision course at the Millennium Estoril Open after both won their second-round matches on Wednesday. Coric, the sixth seed, took out Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, while the second-seeded Kyrgios overcame Inigo Cervantes 7-6(4), 7-5.

Coric, No. 40 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, overcame the loss of the second set to defeat his Brazilian opponent in two hours and eight minutes. The 19 year old improved to 13-11 on the year.

“In the first set I was playing high to his backhand, and it worked perfectly,” Coric said. “In the second set, I was a bit more defensive and he surprised me with his good play. I didn’t feel like I could hurt him.

“[Adjusting] my court position was key. Automatically my shots became more aggressive when I stepped in. In the third set, I was more offensive.”

Nick Kyrgios, who turned 21 on Wednesday, gave himself the gift of a quarter-final berth in Estoril with a straight-set win over Spaniard Cervantes in the pair’s first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. The 2015 finalist served well, landing 75 per cent of first serves and hitting nine aces.

After the match, he was surprised by tournaments organizers, who brought out a cake and showed a tribute video featuring several close friends. “It’s one of the best presents I’ve ever received,” Kyrgios said.

“It will be an enjoyable match for sure,” said Coric of the upcoming clash against the World No. 20. “[Kyrgios] is the favourite so I have nothing to lose. But I’ll never come into a match with the mindset that I can’t win. I’ll do my best but I’ll be there to win.”

“It’s going to be a tough match,” Kyrgios said. “[Coric] has been playing well.”

Britain’s Kyle Edmund, the other #NextGen player in the Estoril draw, was eliminated by Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3.

Home Team Advances In Doubles

Portuguese Gastao Elias and Joao Sousa made a winning start at their home tournament by downing Rogerio Dutra Silva and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-0 in under one hour. Elias/Sousa hit five aces and saved all three break points faced. In the quarter-finals, they will face top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski.

Second seeds Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Italians Thomas Fabbiano and Paolo Lorenzi. Huey/Mirnyi, who teamed to win in Acapulco in February, improved to 17-7 on the year.