Djere Digs Deep For Adelaide Victory

On the opening day of the inaugural Adelaide International, fans were treated to a three-set thriller on Centre Court as Laslo Djere defeated home favourite Alexei Popyrin 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4.

The 24-year-old recorded his second victory of the 2020 ATP Tour season after two hours and 22 minutes, improving his ATP Head2Head record against the Sydney native to 2-0. Djere arrived in Adelaide after a second-round loss to Pierre-Hugues Herbert last week at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.

After opening his 2020 campaign at the ATP Cup, Pablo Cuevas saved three match points to overcome eighth seed Reilly Opelka 5-7, 7-6(9), 7-6(2). The Uruguayan withstood 36 aces throughout the two-hour, 18-minute clash and will face Aljaz Bedene or Tommy Paul for a place in the quarter-finals.

Alexander Bublik also overcame seeded American opposition, beating fifth seed Taylor Fritz 6-4, 7-6(4). Bublik landed 17 aces and saved all five break points he faced.