AUSTRALIAN John Millman is through to the quarter finals of Astana Open in Nur-Sultan and with a number of other upsets, has put himself in a good position to win his maiden ATP Tour title. The fourth seed in Kazakhstan, Millman took care of Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco 6-3 6-4 in an hour and 22 minutes to book a spot in the quarter finals and avenge compatriot James Duckworth who went down to Verdasco in the opening round.

The Australian will be pleased to be back on his home surface of hard court and he showed it during a challenging, but well-earned win over his Spanish opponent. Both played served at a high efficiency above 70 per cent, both only dropped 10 points on serve, and both recorded a second serve percentage of 58 as well. But it was Millman’s ability to save break points – four all up – whilst capitalising on two of four against Verdasco to advance through to the next round.

Millman’s biggest danger to the title will come in the form of his next opponent in Tommy Paul. The rising American talent blitzed Macedonian rival Radu Albot 6-4 6-0 in just 72 minutes on court. He won 69 and 57 per cent of his first and second serve points, compared to just 45 and 42 per cent of Albot’s respective serves. Albot broke once from five chances in the first set, but it was a remarkable five from five for Paul who did not hold back when taking the opportunity to break, and stormed to a big win.

Paul was one of three Americans on the right side of the scoreline on the day, with Frances Tiafoe joining him in the second round. The American won 7-5 6-3 over tournament favourite Miomir Kecmanovic in 81 minutes on court. In what has been a shaky year for Tiafoe, reaching just his second ATP Tour quarter final, he was too strong on serve for Kecmanovic who proved inconsistent.

Tiafoe served seven aces for the match and only dropped a total of 12 points on serve, including only four in the second set. With a 62 per cent efficiency off his serve, it was always going to be hard to beat, as he also broke four times from 10 chances compared to Kecmanovic’s one from four. The 22-year-old will now take on Belarusian Egor Gerasimov who came from behind to defeat Jiri Vesely, 4-6 6-3 6-4.

Gerasimov’s serve was on song and hard to stop, slamming home 14 aces on his way to an 80 per cent first serve winning percentage off a 70 per cent clip. He also won 58 per cent of his second serve points and broke twice compared to his Czech opponent’s once in a match that was certainly about the service. Despite only serving at 56 per cent efficiency and producing five double faults for his seven aces, Vesely remained in the contest for the most part, but the two breaks cost him during the tight, one-hour and 51-minute loss.

In the two first round results to complete the draw, the top two Kazkahstan hopes were playing and saw mixed results. Top home nation representative Alexander Bublik was shocked by American Mackenzie McDonald who won 6-3 6-2 in just 72 minutes,. Two weeks ago Bublik had won 2-6 7-6 6-4 in St. Petersburg, but McDonald had taken lessons from that loss to turn it around and post the win despite Bublik’s inconsistent serve of 11 aces and eight double faults.

It was better news for the other automatic Kazakh entry into the draw in Mikhail Kukushkin who came from behind to post a win over Argentinian Federico Delbonis. Kukushkin won 6-7 6-3 6-2 to shake off a disappointing 7-5 first set tiebreak loss to advance through to the second round in an epic two hours and 33 minutes, the longest match of the day. Delbonis served seven aces to two, but Kukushkin broke five times to two, taking full advantage of a 42 per cent winning ratio off the Argentinian’s second serve.

The remaining Round of 16 matches take place tomorrow with Finnish young gun Emil Ruusuvuori up against Australian eighth seed Jordan Thompson first, following by third seed Adrian Mannarino – the new tournament favourite – facing Japanese qualifier Yuichi Sugita. Italian veteran and wildcard at this event, Andreas Seppi meets McDonald, whilst Kukushkin backs up for a night session up against top seeded Frenchman Benoit Paire who enters the draw for the first time.

Picture: Tennis Australia