THE remaining seven quarter finalists have joined Daniel Evans in the last eight after a round of straight sets wins at the Adelaide International yesterday. It was a fairly predictable day in terms of results, though still through up a few surprises.

The biggest surprise was 157th ranked Alex Bolt topping seventh seed German, Jan-Lennard Struff in front of his home crowd. Hailing from Murray Bridge, Bolt won 6-3 6-4 to advance through to a quarter final in 67 minutes. He won 80 per cent of his first serve points and 62 per cent of his second serve, while attacking his opponents’ second serve with a 52 per cent winning ratio, as well as converting two of five break point opportunities. He now has to face second seed Canadian, Felix Auger-Aliassime who must play the role of villain for the second consecutive day, knocking off fellow remaining Australian James Duckworth in the second round. He defeated Duckworth 6-3 7-6 to book a spot in the quarter finals in the stacked half of the draw.

Also in that half is third seed, Andrey Rublev who is coming off a title win at Doha and moved past American Sam Querrey in the second round with a 6-3 6-3 triumph. It set up a tantalising quarter final with red-hot Brit, Evans for a spot in the semi-finals. After some Day one upsets that saw three seeds fall and Alex de Minaur pull out the day before, the top half of the Adelaide International draw is wide open for a spot in the final. Fourth seed, Pablo Carreno Busta is the favourite to advance to the final match, taking on South African qualifier, Lloyd Harris who continues to defy the odds. Carreno Busta had no problems downing Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy 6-3 6-2, while Harris took a bit longer but got past Laslo Djere, 7-6 6-3.

In the other results, Albert Ramos-Vinolas defeated lucky loser Jaume Munar – who took de Minaur’s spot and thanked his lucky stars by earning a Round of 16 automatic entry – 7-6 6-3. American qualifier Tommy Paul also advanced through to the quarters, completely smashing Argentinian Pablo Cuevas, 6-1 6-2 after his opponent had sent eighth seed, Reilly Opelka packing in Round 1. The match last just under an hour and Paul served up six aces and converted three of seven break point opportunities while saving all four of Cuevas’ opportunities on his own serve.

The Rublev-Evans clash is the first ATP Tour match on Day 4 of the Adelaide International on Centre Court, with the Auger-Aliassime and Bolt clash coming at night following the WTA Tour game between top seeded local Ash Barty and Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondousova. On the Show Court, Carreno Busta and Harris go toe-for-toe before the winner gets a good look at his semi-final opponent when Ramos-Vinolas and Paul face off straight afterwards.

Day 3 Results:

[2] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) defeated James Duckworth (AUS) 6-3 7-6
[3] Alex Rublev (RUS) defeated Sam Querrey (USA) 6-3 6-3
[4] Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) defeated Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 6-3 6-2
[WC] Alex Bolt (AUS) defeated Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 6-3 6-4
[Q] Lloyd Harris (RSA) defeated Laslo Djere (SRB) 7-6 6-3
[Q] Tommy Paul (USA) defeated Pablo Cuevas (ARG) 6-1 6-2
Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) defeated [LL] Jaume Munar (ESP) 7-6 6-3