AUSTRALIAN Jason Kubler has continued his strong form on grass with a three-set come-from-behind win over top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in Newport. Having reached the fourth round of Wimbledon as a qualifier, the world number 12 took a huge scalp in the world number nine, weathering the Canadian’s serve to reach a quarter final at the ATP 250 event, 4-6 6-3 7-6.

After losing the first set in a tight one 4-6, Kubler steadied over the next two hours to break in the second set and level the match, then go 5-5 in the third before a rain delay was called at Newport. Both players returned overnight and provided some great highlights to force a deciding set tiebreak. After two hours and 48 minutes, Kubler was announced the winner, getting up 7-4 in that tiebreak.

The Australian had to weather 16 aces off the Canadians racquet, serving five himself, but having a higher serving efficiency (65 to 61 per cent). He also won 66 per cent of his second serve points, while Auger-Aliassime struggled with just 47 per cent, including nine double faults. In the end, both players could only break the once in their respective sets, but the Australian stood up when it counted in the third set tiebreak to claim the win. Kubler even had to save a match point on his serve in the 12th game when he was 30-40 down, but he held his nerve to serve it out and then win the tiebreaker.

“I was pretty nervous, to be honest,” Kubler said post-match. “Luckily the last couple months I’ve been doing so much work on my serve. I was thinking about all the stuff I’ve done the last couple of months and that’s what gave me a bit of confidence.

“Just very fortunate to be in this position. Today could have gone either way… Fortunate that it went my way today, but I’m just happy that I stuck in and tried my best for the whole time.”

Kubler will now take on fellow Australian and eighth seed James Duckworth in the quarter finals, with the winner to play either third seed Alexander Bublik, or sixth seed Andy Murray in the last four. Meanwhile the other semi-final is set in stone, with second seed John Isner and fourth seed Maxime Cressy making their way through. The American pair will face off after respective nail-biting three-set victories over France’s Benjamin Bonzi, and American compatriot Steve Johnson.

In the other ATP 250 event in Sweden, Austrian Dominic Thiem continues to improve in his return from injury, battling past tricky fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut on the clay to reach the quarter finals at Bastad. Using his protected ranking, the Grand Slam winner won 7-6 3-6 6-4, and will now take on eighth seed Sebastian Baez, who knocked out another Spaniard in Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. In other results, second seed Andrey Rublev and Serbian Laslo Djere won through to set up a quarter final with the winner to meet either Thiem or Baez in the semi-finals.

In the WTA 250 event in Budapest, just three seeds remain following sixth seed Shuai Zhang copping a 46-minute thrashing at the hands of Serbian Aleksandra Krunic. The 29-year-old only needed 49 minutes to crush the Chinese talent 6-1 6-0 and book her spot in the quarter finals. Third seed Yulia Putintseva bounced back from a shock first set loss to Brazilian lucky loser Laura Pigossi to only drop three games in the last two sets and claim the win. Also through to the quarters finals were Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto and China’s Xiyu Wang.

Over in Lausanne, three of the four Round of 16 matches featured players from the same nation. It was the battle of the Swiss, Germans and French across Centre Court on Thursday, with second seed Belinda Bencic triumphing over wildcard Susan Bandecchi in the home nation players. Meanwhile sixth seed Carolina Garcia had too much experience for French qualifier Leolia Jeanjean, winning in straight sets, whilst Jule Niemeier won in similar circumstances against young German qualifier, Eva Lys. In the other second round match, Serbian qualifier Olga Danilovic defeated Anna Kalinskaya in three sets.

AROUND THE TOUR RESULTS:

Bastad – ATP 250 | Clay

Round of 16

[2] Andrey Rublev (RUS) defeated Federico Coria (ARG) 7-5 4-6 7-6
[PR] Dominic Thiem (AUT) defeated [4] Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) 7-6 3-6 6-4
[8] Sebastian Baez (ARG) defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP) 6-2 6-3
Laslo Djere (SRB) defeated [Q] Marc-Andrea Huesler (SUI) 7-5 6-2

Newport – ATP 250 | Grass

Quarter Finals

[2] John Isner (USA) defeated [5] Benjamin Bonzi (FRA) 7-6 6-7 7-6
[4] Maxime Cressy (USA) defeated Steve Johnson (USA) 6-7 6-4 6-4

Round of 16

Jason Kubler (AUS) defeated [1] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) 4-6 6-3 7-6

Budapest – WTA 250 | Clay

Round of 16

[3] Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) defeated [LL] Laura Pigossi (BRA) 4-6 6-1 6-2
Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) defeated [6] Shuai Zhang (CHN) 6-1 6-0
Elisabetta Cocciaretto (ITA) defeated Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 7-5 4-6 7-5
Xiyu Wang (CHN) defeated Ana Bogdan (COL) 7-6 7-6

Lausanne – WTA 250 | Clay

Round of 16

[2] Belinda Bencic (SUI) defeated [WC] Susan Bandecchi (SUI) 6-3 6-4
[6] Caroline Garcia (FRA) defeated [Q] Leolia Jeanjean (FRA) 6-1 6-4
Jule Niemeier (GER) defeated [Q] Eva Lys (GER) 6-4 6-2
[Q] Olga Danilovic (SRB) defeated Anna Kalinskaya (RUS) 6-3 3-6 7-5