As dark clouds descended at the Gonet Geneva Open, fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov was in a hurry to get off the court. But the storm was coming from the other side of the net, as qualifier Ilya Ivashka threatened to turn around a 6-4, 5-0 deficit and take them the distance.
The No. 20 player in the FedEx ATP Rankings managed to hold his nerve when it mattered most to edge past Ivashka 6-4, 6-4 and reach his fourth quarter-final of the year in Geneva.
“Today was honestly just a good day for me, I was very pleased with the way I fought,” Dimitrov said in his post-match press conference. “I’ve been quite misfortunate in my past two or three matches that I’ve played in Madrid and Rome. I felt that I fell short with a few points here and there and therefore lost the matches.
“That can be very discouraging, but I’m very thankful that I actually got the opportunity to compete here again. Getting a wild card meant a lot to me, so I really wanted to execute every chance that I have when I’m out there on the court.”
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Dimitrov awaits the winner of French wild card Arthur Cazaux and qualifier Pablo Cuevas, whose match was suspended due to rain. Cuevas was leading 6-2, 4-3 and was serving with a break to the good when the rain came.
Also in action, 18-year-old Dominic Stephan Stricker took down Marton Fucsovics 7-5, 6-4 to reach his first tour-level quarter-final in his main draw debut. The Swiss wild card saved eight of 11 break points he faced and weathered two rain delays en route to victory.
“It feels great to be here, to beat two of these guys,” Stricker said. “I’m very happy with my performance today. I played a good match. It was hard with these rain delays, but I just tried my best. I’m pretty happy with what I did today and I’m just looking forward to my match tomorrow and just trying my best.”
Earlier in the day, third seed Casper Ruud claimed a spot in the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Tennys Sandgren.
The Norwegian arrived in Geneva on the back of a strong run of form that included semi-final appearances at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, BMW Open (Munich) and Mutua Madrid Open.
The 22-year-old took that momentum into his opening match against Sandgren, who is No. 67 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. The American was looking for a win in their first tour-level meeting, having fallen to Ruud in the qualifying rounds of Auckland in 2018.
Ruud came out swinging against Sandgren in their Centre Court clash, creating his first break opportunity in the fifth game and keeping pace with the American from the baseline. The third seed raised his level as the set wound to a close, dropping only one point in his final three service games to keep the pressure on Sandgren before breaking to love at 5-5. Ruud got out to an early break in the second set, and converted his fourth match point to seal the victory in an hour and 24 minutes.
Into his sixth consecutive quarter-final appearance, a streak dating back to Acapulco in March, Ruud will next face Dominik Koepfer after the German defeated Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-7(1), 6-3.
Second seed Denis Shapovalov will have to wait to face Marco Cecchinato on Thursday after their match was rescheduled due to rain. The winner will face either sixth seed Fabio Fognini or Laslo Djere in the quarter-finals. Djere was on serve and leading by a break 6-3, 6-7(2), 2-0 when their match was suspended.
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