Dzumhur Ousts Wawrinka In Geneva

Damir Dzumhur put a quick end to Stan Wawrinka’s hopes of winning a third title at the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open, defeating the second-seeded Swiss 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in his second-round opening match Wednesday. Wawrinka had won the Geneva title in 2016-17.

Wawrinka led 3-0 to start the decisive set, but Dzumhur countered to win the next five games. He closed out the victory on serve in just under two hours. The 57th-ranked Dzumhur, a qualifier at the ATP 250 clay-court event, also rallied from a set down to defeat Feliciano Lopez in the first round. 

“It looked good, but it didn’t finish well. It was a tough match out there for sure,” said Wawrinka. “Again, this is typical the match that I’m still losing, still missing. I know I’m playing well, I’m moving well, but maybe I think a bit too much with what I want to do, how I want to do it, and I don’t play simple enough. Those little moments in the second set and third set turned the match. That’s what I’m working forward to change up.

“Even if I lost today, in general I’m playing well, so I need to keep pushing myself, keep trying to find a way to win those tight match, and I know that things can change quickly.”

Dzumhur will next meet fifth-seeded Moldovan Radu Albot, who edged past Juan Ignacio Londero of Argentina 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-4 for a place in his third ATP Tour quarter-final of the year.

“There is no easy game in tennis,” said Albot, the Delray Beach finalist (d. Evans) in February. “It was a tough one. It was a good match to watch for spectators, with lots of rallies.”

Japan’s Taro Daniel knocked out third seed Cristian Garin, one of the most consistent clay-court performers of 2019, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in just over two hours. Daniel took a 3-0 lead in the first set and broke in the opening game of the decider against this season’s Houston and Munich champion, who is now 19-6 on red dirt.

Daniel will need to beat another Chilean, Nicolas Jarry, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over American Denis Kudla, if he wishes to reach his first ATP Tour semi-final since August 2018 in Winston-Salem (l. to Medvedev).

Elsewhere, Argentina’s Federico Delbonis proved to be too strong for fourth seed and defending champion Marton Fucsovics of Hungary 6-4, 6-2. He next meets Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who reached the Geneva quarter-finals for the first time in four years by saving all four break points he faced to beat Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-0, 6-3 in 77 minutes.

“I played really good today,” said Ramos-Vinolas. “I’m really happy. I was really concentrating during all the match, and I think I played a great level, maybe I played the same level as two years ago, when I was playing really good.”