Fresh off their first title of the season in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski overcame a stern test Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals at the Cinch Championships.

The top seeds survived a hard-fought battle against defending champions Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic 6-7(3), 7-6(3), 10-7. Neither team faced a break point throughout the one-hour, 54-minute contest.

The British-Dutch duo will next face Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden, who won this year’s ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells and defeated Jamie Murray and Michael Venus 7-6(8), 7-6(5) on Wednesday.

Third seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury also advanced after they moved past Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan 7-6(4), 7-6(4). In quarter-final action, Taylor Fritz and Jiri Lehecka escaped Nicolas Mahut and Fabrice Martin 6-3, 6-7(5), 10-6.

Top Seeds Advance In Halle
Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer downed Tallon Griekspoor and Robin Haase 6-4, 6-4 after winning 30 of 36 first-serve points at the Terra Wortmann Open. The Salvadoran-Dutch duo will next face home favourites Oscar Otte and Jan-Lennard Struff in the last eight.

Wild cards Otte and Struff rallied to beat Hubert Hurkacz and Jannik Sinner 6-7(5), 6-2, 10-7. Marcelo Demoliner and Andreas Mies defeated Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz 6-4, 7-5.

Kei Nishikori will continue his return to competition on the ATP Challenger Tour in July, he announced on Twitter.

The former World No. 4, who triumphed at last week’s Palmas del Mar Challenger in his first tournament since October 2021, will next be in action at the Cranbrook Tennis Classic in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The hard-court event runs from 3-9 July.

The following week, the Japanese star will compete at the Chicago Men’s Challenger. Nishikori, 33, is hoping to then return to tour-level action, as early as the ATP Tour events in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

Despite playing his first tournament in 20 months, the 12-time tour-level titlist produced a high level to lift the trophy at last week’s Caribbean Open. Nishikori dropped just one set en route to his first title at any level since 2018.

Nishikori, who underwent arthroscopic left hip surgery last year, moved to World No. 492 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings following his triumph in Puerto Rico.

Welcome back to the winner’s circle 🙌@keinishikori claims his first title since January 2019 after beating Zheng 6-2, 7-5 in Palmas del Mar#ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/UVTUlqIhnG

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) June 18, 2023

Alexander Zverev’s 2023 season continued to gain momentum Wednesday at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, where the home favourite eased past Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.

Zverev broke Shapovalov’s serve in the opening game of the match on OWL Arena and barely looked back as he wrapped a 75-minute triumph in which he did not face a break point. The German won 82 per cent (28/34) points behind his first serve as he rode vociferous home support to his first Halle quarter-final since 2019.

Calm ➕ Confident

@AlexZverev | @ATPHalle | #TerraWortmannOpen pic.twitter.com/bEZsY71rbF

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 21, 2023

“I’m very happy with today,” said Zverev after defeating former Wimbledon semi-finalist Shapovalov. “I’m especially happy with how I returned. I think the first return I missed was in the middle of the second set, so with that part I’m very happy.

“Moving forward, it’s not going to get easier. Nicolas Jarry is somebody that has an extremely big game, extremely suitable for grass courts, but I’m looking forward to the match.”

Zverev struggled to find his best form upon returning to ATP Tour action at the start of the season after recovering from a long-term ankle injury. Yet he looked back to his best in reaching the semi-finals at Roland Garros earlier this month and is now 23-15 for the year after his latest win in Halle, where he reached the championship match in 2016 and 2017.

His quarter-final opponent Jarry also delivered a big-hitting performance on Wednesday to stun second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(7), 7-5. The Chilean struck 34 winners to Tsitsipas’ 22 for his sixth career victory against a Top 10 opponent.

Jarry had beaten Tsitsipas on grass in the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2019, and the 27-year-old delivered a confident one-hour, 52-minute display to advance to the quarter-finals on his Halle debut. Jarry, who lifted his second and third ATP Tour titles, respectively, in Santiago and Geneva this year, has risen two spots to No. 26 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as a result of his run in Halle so far.

Cameron Norrie dug deep in front of his home fans Wednesday to deny Jordan Thompson a second-round upset at the Cinch Championships.

The fifth-seeded Briton prevailed 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 against Thompson at the Queen’s Club to reach the quarter-finals for the second time at the grass-court ATP 500. Norrie won 10 of the final 13 games of the match to complete an impressive turnaround after ‘s-Hertogenbosch finalist Thompson had taken charge in west London.

Delivering on home soil 🏡@cam_norrie reaches his sixth ATP Tour quarter-final of the season, navigating past Thompson, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2!@QueensTennis | #cinchChampionships pic.twitter.com/XeZZv0xerp

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 21, 2023

“I think it was the perfect match,” said Norrie. “Jordan obviously really likes the grass and he played a really solid first set. He played a couple of good points to break me, and I played a couple of loose points, and that was the difference in the first set. I actually thought I played great, so I didn’t really have to change too much.

“He dropped his level slightly [in the second set]. I came up with a few points and it was just like classic grass-court tennis. I was able to come out with a lot more energy in that third set and I think that was the difference. There wasn’t much in it, and it was a really good match to get through.”

With his one-hour, 58-minute win Norrie improved to 31-11 for the 2023 season. The 27-year-old lifted his maiden ATP 500 crown on clay in Rio de Janeiro in February and will take on fourth seed Frances Tiafoe or Sebastian Korda next as he chases his first tour-level grass-court title at Queen’s, where he reached the championship match in 2021.