RAIN delays in Geneva and a combination of first and second round matches in Lyon painted an intriguing day at the respective ATP 250 events. There were very little surprises compared to the past round, with just one seed falling across the two competitions.

At Geneva, two matches are yet to complete with second seed Denis Shapovalov and Marco Cecchinato unable to take the court for their clash and forcing the match to be played tomorrow. Meanwhile, Laslo Djere leads Fabio Fognini in the third set and qualifier Pablo Cuevas leads wildcard Arthur Cazaux, with the remainder of the two matches to play from 12pm.

Third and fourth seeds Casper Ruud and Grigor Dimitrov both claimed straight set wins, as did home town hope and teenager Dominic Stephan Stricker. Ruud was challenged in the first by American Tennys Sandgren before reigning supreme in the second and winning a huge 82 per cent of points off a 67 per cent first serve clip. He also converted three break points to claim the 7-5 6-2 match. For Dimitrov, the victory over Ilya Ivashka looked to be a lot more clinical and one-sided before the Belarusian bit back in the second, coming from 0-5 down to eventually lose 6-4 6-4.

“Today was honestly just a good day for me, I was very pleased with the way I fought,” Dimitrov said post-match. “I’ve been quite misfortunate in my past two or three matches that I’ve played in Madrid and Rome. I felt that I fell short with a few points here and there and therefore lost the matches.

“That can be very discouraging, but I’m very thankful that I actually got the opportunity to compete here again. Getting a wild card meant a lot to me, so I really wanted to execute every chance that I have when I’m out there on the court.”

18-year-old Stricker took down Marton Fucsovics to head into his maiden tour-level quarter final, saving eight of 11 break points and cruising past two rain delays to eventually take out the 7-5 6-4 victory.

“It feels great to be here, to beat two of these guys,” Stricker said. “I’m very happy with my performance today. I played a good match. It was hard with these rain delays, but I just tried my best. I’m pretty happy with what I did today and I’m just looking forward to my match tomorrow and just trying my best.”

Stricker won 53 per cent of the overall points to claim victory. The final match saw Dominik Koepfer challenged by Feliciano Lopez throughout their two hour and 18-minute contest, with the former clinching victory 7-5 6-7(1) 6-3.

At Lyon, five matches played out with the two Round of 32 matches going the whole hog, as sixth seed Jannik Sinner claimed victory over Russian Aslan Karatsev despite giving away a 0-6 bagel to start, coming back to win 0-6 6-3 6-4, while lucky loser and hometown hopeful Arthur Rinderknech overcame a mid-match challenge from qualifying Swede Mikael Ymer to claim 6-3 6-7 6-2 victory.

In the day’s Round of 16 matches, it was fourth seed David Goffin who fell in straight sets to Aljaz Bedene, as eighth seed Karen Khachanov reigned supreme over qualifying Pole Kamil Majchrzak and Lorenzo Musetti continued his good form with a win over American and fellow youngster Sebastian Korda, overcoming a mid-match hiccup and rain delays to claim the 6-3 1-6 6-4 win.

“I lost my focus and he won the second set easily,” said Musetti. “I started the third set well with a break up, but then Sebi came back and he was playing really well. I played with my heart and my body. I am really proud of myself.”

GONET GENEVA OPEN ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[3] Casper Ruud (NOR) defeated Tennys Sandgren (USA) 7-5 6-2
[4] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) defeated [Q] Ilya Ivashka (BLR) 6-4 6-4
Dominik Koepfer (GER) defeated Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 7-5 6-7 6-3
[WC] Dominic Stephan Stricker (SUI) defeated Marton Fucsovics (HUN) 7-5 6-4

Laslo Djere (SRB) leading Fabio Fognini (ITA) 6-3 6-7 2-0
[Q] Pablo Cuevas (ARG) leading [WC] Arthur Cazaux (FRA) 6-2 4-3
[2] Denis Shapovalov (CAN) v. Marco Cecchinato (ITA)

OPEN PARC AUVERGNE-RHONE-ALPES LYON ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[6] Jannik Sinner (ITA) defeated Aslan Karatsev (RUS) 0-6 6-3 6-4
[LL] Arthur Rinderknech (FRA) defeated [Q] Mikael Ymer (SWE) 6-3 6-7 6-2

OPEN PARC AUVERGNE-RHONE-ALPES LYON ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

Aljaz Bedene (SLO) defeated [4] David Goffin (BEL) 7-6 6-3
[8] Karen Khachanov (RUS) defeated [Q] Kamil Majchrzak (POL) 7-6 6-3
[ALT] Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) defeated Sebastian Korda (USA) 6-3 1-6 6-4

Picture credit: Laurent Gillieron