IN a day that was far from predictable with a couple of upsets knocking top 20 players out of the Hamburg European Open, Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas provided some normality to the draw with a straight sets win over Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas. Tsitsipas won 7-5 6-4 to advance through to the quarter finals, one of only three seeds who reached the last eight on the clay.

It was the second seed’s third consecutive win over Cuevas, who is someone Tsitsipas said he has always admired growing up. While Cuevas’ career-high ranking of 19 might not be as impressive as some other players, the current world number 63 certainly had an impact on Tsitsipas who was six-years-old when Cuevas turned professional.

“I have a lot of respect for him. He is a very difficult opponent to face, particularly on this surface,” Tsitsipas said post-match. “He is a good friend and one of my idols growing up. It was a great match and I enjoyed it. There was a certain point in the match when I forgot I needed to win, as I was enjoying the game and the atmosphere, the crowd. I was playing with positive vibes and energy.”

Now the world number six takes on Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic who stunned Karen Khachanov 6-1 6-2 in just 62 minutes to race through to the final eight. While the Serbian is ranked lower than his Russian opponent, he holds a 4-0 head-to-head record over him and now must set his sights on Tsitsipas, where they have played three times, and twice on Tour. Tsitsipas won in Beijing on hard court last year, while Lajovic took out Tsitsipas in the first round of Wimbledon way back in 2017. Their only meeting on clay was during qualifying at the Rome Masters in 2018, where the Greek won 7-6 6-4.

Speaking of clay court talents, Casper Ruud is a man on a mission and is edging closer to his second career title after defeating sixth seed, Fabio Fognini 6-3 6-3 in just 67 minutes. Ruud has shown he is not afraid to take on the big guns in play, the 21-year-old took out the Argentina Open in May, and reached the semi-final of the Rome Masters last week. Now at a career-high 30 in the world rankings, Ruud smashed the Italian off serve, winning 25 of his 28 first serve points.

Now Ruud will lock horns with Ugo Humbert who skipped past Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely, 6-4 6-3 in one hour and 45 minutes. The world number 41 was impressive in the victory, backing up his stunning first round upset of Daniil Medvedev. Like Ruud, Humbert won his maiden ATP Tour title earlier this year with victory at the ASB Classic in Auckland.

First up on Center Court tomorrow is the match of the day between seeds, Roberto Bautista Agut and Andrey Rublev who have enjoyed a day’s break, with the other top half quarter final taking place at night between lucky loser Alexander Bublik and clay court star Cristian Garin. Lajovic and Tsitsipas, and Humbert and Ruud will play back-to-back in the afternoon.

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