A REIGNING champion is out of his title defence tournament, while another top seed only just survived an epic encounter as we recap the quarter finals from Buenos Aires and New York.

ARGENTINA OPEN – BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA:

Number one seed and tournament favourite, Diego Schwartzman has kept his dream of winning his home town tournament alive, with a come-from-behind victory against Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas. The Buenos Aires-born Argentinian was down 5-7 and had break points against him in the second set, only to fight his way back, survive one of the most epic tiebreakers and then continue to press hard and win 5-7 7-6 7-5. The second set tiebreaker went for 24 points as the Argentinian eventually won 13-11, but the setback did not put Cuevas down as the claycourt player kept pushing hard. In the end, the match lasted almost four hours as the two styles – Cuevas’ more consistent faster serving against Schwartzman’s counter punching – went head-to-head. It might have been some nervous times for last year’s runner-up, but Schwartzman is now one win away from the final.

Schwartzman plays the unseeded Pedro Sousa in the semi-finals after the Portugese lucky loser defeated Brazilian Thiago Monteiro in a battle of the surprise packets this tournament. Up the other end of the draw, Juan Ignacio Londero stunned second seed, Guido Pella in a battle of the Argentinians, with the former getting up 6-4 7-6 to progress through to the semis. Eighth seed Norwegian, Casper Ruud was able to overcome an early challenge from third seed Serbian, Dusan Lajovic to post a 7-5 6-1 victory.

QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[1] Diego Schwartzman (ARG) defeated Pablo Cuevas (URU) 5-7 7-6 7-5
Juan Ignacio Londero (ARG) defeated [2] Guido Pella (ARG) 6-4 7-6
[8] Casper Ruud (NOR) defeated [3] Dusan Lajovic (SRB) 7-5 6-1
[LL] Pedro Sousa (POR) defeated Thiago Monteiro (BRA) 7-6 6-4

NEW YORK OPEN – NEW YORK, UNITED STATES:

A day after the New York Open crowd saw their tournament favourite John Isner fall in three sets, they witnessed their last remaining American hope, Reilly Opelka go down to Chinese Taipei qualifier, Jason Jung. Opelka was the reigning champion at the event, but Jung was far from a slouch last season, reaching the quarter finals himself. In yesterday’s match, Jung came from a set down to defeat Opelka, 5-7 6-4 6-4 in just under two hours. Despite a barrage of aces (24) from the tall American, Jung was just ultra-consistent on serve with an 80 per cent first serve points success rate, and 65 per cent on his second serve points. He broke twice, which was once more than Opelka, both of which came in the last two sets. He now faces Italian veteran, Andreas Seppi who defeated Australian, Jordan Thompson in the last match of the day, 6-7 6-4 6-1.

In the other semi-finals, sixth seed Serbian, Miomir Kecmanovic downed fourth seed Frenchman, Ugo Humbert in three sets. Kecmanovic won 3-6 6-2 6-4 to advance to the semi-finals where he takes on eighth seed Brit, Kyle Edmund. In another three set contest, Edmund knocked out Soonwoo Kwon, the Korean who defeated Milos Raonic, 3-6 6-2 7-6 coming back from a set down to run out the winner.

QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[Q] Jason Jung (TAI) defeated [3] Reilly Opelka (USA) 5-7 6-4 6-4
[6] Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB) defeated [4] Ugo Humbert (FRA) 3-6 6-2 6-4
[8] Kyle Edmund (GBR) defeated Soonwoo Kwon (KOR) 3-6 6-2 7-6
Andreas Seppi (ITA) defeated Jordan Thompson (AUS) 6-7 6-4 6-1