Haase Returns To Defeat Youzhny In Antalya

After splitting two tie-break sets before play was suspended on Monday night, Robin Haase overcame fellow Turkish Airlines Open Antalya debutant Mikhail Youzhny 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-4 on Tuesday.

Haase, a two-time tour-level titlist, dropped just three points on serve in the final set and secured a vital break of serve, in the penultimate ninth game, to progress. The World No. 44 will face Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the second round.

Jiri Vesely scored his second win over third seed Fernando Verdasco in as many FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, prevailing 6-3, 7-5 to reach the last eight. The 24-year-old reached his third quarter-final of the season after 77 minutes, winning 80 per cent of first-serve points.

The Czech improves to 9-11 this season after falling to his lowest ATP Ranking (No. 106) in over four years on 11 June. Vesely will play Nikoloz Basilashvili for a semi-final spot. The Georgian beat eighth seed Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 in one hour and 53 minutes.

Diema Xtra Sofia Open finalists Mirza Basic and Marius Copil also made it through to the second round. Sofia titlist Basic defeated Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 6-3, 6-3 in 70 minutes, while Copil, the 2018 runner-up in the Bulgarian capital, fired 11 aces en route to a 6-4, 7-6(5) victory over home favourite Cem Ilkel.

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Mirnyi/Oswald Reach Antalya QF
Second seeds Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald booked their spot in the quarter-finals, edging Federico Delbonis and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela 7-6(2), 7-5.

Mirnyi and Oswald, who lifted titles in New York and Houston earlier this year, progressed after one hour and 34 minutes after saving six of eight break points in the first-round encounter.

Andres Molteni and Hans Podlipnik-Castillo cruised past Tuna Altuna and Konstantin Kravchuk 6-4, 6-2. The fourth seeds converted 100 per cent of their break point opportunities (4/4) to advance after 58 minutes.

Radu Albot and Guido Pella needed a Match Tie-break to confirm their quarter-final place, overcoming Antonio Sancic and Andrei Vasilevski 7-6(5), 2-6, 10-8. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Joao Sousa defeated Turkish wild cards Koray Kirci and Ergi Kirkin 6-3, 6-4 in 67 minutes.

Did You Know?
Mikhail Youzhny, who celebrated his 36th birthday on Monday, is just three wins shy of reaching 500 match wins at tour-level. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, with 609 wins, is the only Russian to reach the milestone.