Millman Battles Past Tiafoe In Sydney

John Millman reached the second round at the Sydney International for the third time on Tuesday, beating Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5.

The 29-year-old Brisbane native twice recovered from a break down in the deciding set, converting four of eight break points en route to a two-hour, 39-minute triumph. Millman improves to 2-0 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against the #NextGenATP American and will be aiming to reach the quarter-finals in Sydney for the first time.

The World No. 38 will meet seventh seed Marton Fucsovics for a place in the last eight. The 26-year-old Hungarian beat Australian wild card James Duckworth 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

On his Sydney main draw debut, qualifier Andrey Rublev upset sixth seed Lucas Pouille 6-2, 6-3. The 21-year-old Russian dropped just two points behind his first serve (24/26) to advance after 66 minutes. Rublev will face Yoshihito Nishioka for a place in the quarter-finals.

Australian wild card Jordan Thompson reached the quarter-finals in Sydney after recovering from a set and 2-4 down to beat lucky loser Taro Daniel 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-0. Thompson won 10 of 12 second serve return points in the deciding set to race to a two-hour, 26-minute win. Thompson will meet countryman Alex de Minaur or Reilly Opelka for a semi-final spot.

Eighth seed Andreas Seppi beat Brisbane semi-finalist Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 to set a second-round clash against Martin Klizan. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez also advanced, beating Denis Kudla 7-5, 6-4. The Spanish qualifier will face third seed Diego Schwartzman in the second round.