Alex de Minaur won an all-Aussie battle to return to the quarterfinals in Atlanta, where he joins Aleksandar Vukic. Daria Saville and Alexei Popyrin are into clay-court quarterfinals in Europe.
Atlanta, United States, 27 July 2023 | Matt Trollope
Atlanta, USA
Defending champion Alex de Minaur out-steadied Thanasi Kokkinakis to return to the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 tournament in Atlanta.
In the first professional meeting between the two Australians, De Minaur rebounded from 3-0 down in the second set to complete a 6-3 6-4 triumph.
De Minaur, who won the Atlanta titles in 2019 and 2022, improves to 10-1 lifetime at the event. He next faces Ugo Humbert.
Are you kidding @alexdeminaur ?! 💨 pic.twitter.com/IQahds4ndO
— TennisONE App (@TennisONEApp) July 27, 2023
“I love playing here. I don’t know what it is; we always get some great crowds. It’s probably one of the courts where I play my best tennis and I’ve had my most success,” said De Minaur, who is on a nine-match winning streak at the tournament.
“I’m a very good friend of Thanasi and we know each other very well. Yesterday we were hanging out all day. So it’s always tough to play your mates, but it was a tricky match and happy to get my Atlanta campaign started.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Aleksandar Vukic continued his breakthrough season by advancing to his first tour-level quarterfinal of 2023.
Vukic upset No.4 seed Yoshihito Nishioka 4-6 7-5 7-6(3) for his 40th match win of the season, helped by 26 aces.
World No.31 Nishioka is the highest-ranked player Vukic has defeated this year, a result that should see the big-hitting Aussie crack the top 80.
“I’m playing great, I’m serving well, and yeah, can’t wait (for what’s next),” Vukic said.
Vukic will play the winner of Wednesday night’s match between Christopher Eubanks and Brandon Nakashima.
Aussies in action – Atlanta
RESULTS
Men’s singles, second round
Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) d [4] Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) 4-6 7-5 7-6(3)
[2] Alex de Minaur (AUS) d Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) 6-3 6-4
Men’s doubles, first round
William Blumberg (USA)/Rajeev Ram (USA) d John-Patrick Smith (AUS)/Dan Evans (GBR) 6-2 1-6 [10-4]
COMING UP
Men’s singles, quarterfinals
[2] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v [7] Ugo Humbert (FRA)
Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) v TBC
Men’s doubles, quarterfinals
Max Purcell (AUS)/Jordan Thompson (AUS) v [WC] Trent Bryde (USA)/Ethan Quinn (USA)
John Peers (AUS)/Marcelo Melo (BRA) v William…
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