Ruud comes from a set down to reach Hamburg quarter-finals, Evans crashes out in Atlanta

Casper Ruud is through to the quarter-finals of the Hamburg Open after coming from a set down to see off Cristian Garin.

The world No. 4 progressed 1-6 6-2 6-2 in an hour and 41 minutes.

It is the fifth consecutive clay-court event where Ruud has reached the last eight.

Reflecting on his performance, top seed Ruud said: “Cristian played much better than me at the beginning.

“He broke me right away and was returning from all corners. I had no answers, but just tried to stay in there in the second set and told myself to keep going, maybe I will get a chance.

“At 2-2 I was able to break him on my first break point and things started to change. A couple of points can decide a match. Even though the result in the end seemed kind of clear, it is always tough against Cristian.”

Ruud will meet Arthur Fils next, after the Frenchman secured a 7-5 7-5 win over Dusan Lajovic on Thursday afternoon.

Fils converted five out of 11 of his break points compared to his Serbian rival’s ratio of three from six.

Andrey Rublev suffered a shock defeat, with the second seed knocked out by Daniel Altmaier 6-2 6-2.

After beating Jannik Sinner at Roland-Garros, it is the second time Altmaier has seen off a top 10 player in 2023.

Lorenzo Musetti recovered from losing the first set against Jozef Kovalik to continue in the tournament. He went through 3-6 6-2 6-4.

“I put a lot of physical and fighting spirit on the court today,” Musetti said. “I was not finding my best tennis and I could feel that. There was a lot of frustration inside. I was running a lot to get to a lot of balls and I was a little bit lucky and I took the chances that he gave me.

“I think the great champions, most of the time, don’t play their best tennis but win. I made it so I am really proud of myself.”

British No.2 Dan Evans threw away three match points, and a 4-1 lead in the third set, to crash out of the Atlanta Open against Germany’s Dominik Koepfer.

It looked as though it would be a straightforward victory for Evans after racing through the first set 6-2 in just 40 minutes.

However, after Evans failed to convert three match points on Koepfer’s serve at 5-3 up in the second set, the German fought back to eventually win the set on a tie-break.

The Brit came back strong, and was just two games from victory after racing into a 4-1 lead in the third set.

Once again, though, his fragilities were on show for all to see as Koepfer won five games on the bounce to progress to the quarter-finals and subject Evans to a fourth defeat in a row.

The match ended in bizarre fashion, as Evans made no attempt at a return when match-point down on the Koepfer serve.

Highlights as Evans squanders three match points, Koepfer seals win in bizarre fashion

Christopher Eubanks joined Koepfer in the last eight after firing 21 aces on his way to victory against fellow American Brandon Nakashima.

At the Croatia Open, top seed Jiri Lehecka enjoyed a straight-sets win over Dominic Thiem in the round of 16.

Despite Thiem enjoying a gradual return to form in recent months, he was outplayed by Lehecka in the first meeting between the pair.

Lehecka won 82% of his first-serve points on his way to a 6-3 7-5 victory.

Stan Wawrinka won the title at Umag 17 years ago and he rolled back the years to fend off the challenge of Argentine Federico Coria.

The 2006 champion – who is competing in the tournament for the first time since 2007 – will go up against Roberto Carballes Baena in the last eight after a 7-5 6-1 win.

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