IT has been a strange tournament at the Sofia Open this week, with Felix Auger-Aliassime joining the likes of Denis Shapovalov, Jan-Lennard Struff, Nikoloz Basilashvili and Marin Cilic in losing their first match of the final ATP Tour tournament. All five seeds are traditional offensive players – though the likes of Struff and Cilic are more serve-dominant power players – and whether that cites something about the surface it is hard to know. On the other hand, the three more defensive-orientated seeds in Australian duo, Alex de Minaur and John Millman, and French fifth seed Adrian Mannarino are all through to the quarter finals.

Auger-Aliassime will be disappointed as the second seed to bow out in the Round of 16 to Italian Stefano Caruso, 6-4 6-4. The match lasted an hour and 40 minutes with the world number 82 breaking twice whilst saving six break point opportunities against Auger-Aliassime to hold on and secure the win. Neither player was particularly efficient with their serve, as Caruso only produced a 44 per cent efficiency, but made up for it with a 77 and 62 per cent winning record on his first and second serve points respectively. Auger-Aliassime served served seven aces, but only had a 59 per cent serving efficiency and won 10 less points on his serve opening the door for Caruso to break him.

Australian third seed de Minaur now sits as the tournament favourite after dispatching Russian Aslan Karatsev in straight sets, 6-4 7-6. In a match that lasted an hour and 50 minutes, de Minaur won 69 per cent of his first serve points and broke three times to two, going down to the wire in the second set tiebreaker. Emerging victorious in the tiebreaker 7-5, de Minaur was able to advance through to the quarter finals where he faces the biggest danger man remaining in the draw – Italian young gun Jannik Sinner.

In what will be a repeat of last year’s Next-Gen ATP Finals, it almost seems like a match fit for a final, but the winner will only advance through to the semis after Sinner did what he had to do against Swiss lucky loser, Marc-Andrea Huesler. Sinner won 6-3 6-4 in 78 minutes, hardly losing a point off his first serve (five for the match) to save both break point opportunities for his opponent, whilst breaking the Swiss talent twice. Sinner also served six aces for only one double fault, to Huesler’s nine and three respectively.

In a match that anyone watching knew was going to be a grind, two genuine endurance beasts went at it in sixth seed Millman and French qualifier Gilles Simon in their second round clash. The Australian won his first match since claiming the Astana Open title two matches back, needing three sets to win against Simon, 7-5 6-7 6-2 in what was a real grind, lasting three hours and 15 minutes. Neither player is known to give in, but it was Simon’s inconsistent serve – five aces but 12 double faults – compared to Millman’s ultra-consistent approach – 68 per cent efficiency and 61 and 66 per cent winning record off his first and second serve points – that got him home and into a quarter final against a well-rested Vasek Pospisil.

The man Millman conquered in that Astana Open final, Adrian Mannarino also advanced through to the quarter finals of the Sofia Open, defeating Belarusian Egor Gerasimov 6-4 7-6 in an hour and 47 minutes. Gerasimov produced 10 aces and won 75 per cent of his first serve points off a 67 per cent clip, but it was Mannarino who managed to remain consistent throughout, producing the five aces and winning more points off his second serve (56 per cent to 42 per cent). He broke twice from three chances while Gerasimov could only capitalise once from seven opportunities. The second set tiebreaker went down to the winer but in the end the Frenchman got up 7-5 to claim the win and move through to the final eight. He will now take on Moldovan Radu Albot in the quarter finals.

In the final match of the day, Richard Gasquet proved too good for a gallant Jonas Forejtek, as the French veteran got up 6-4 6-2 over the Czech teenager coming off his first-ever ATP Tour win. Gasquet needed 69 minutes to defeat Forejtek, serving eight aces to seven and only dropping a remarkable one point off his first serve in a dominant performance. Saving both break points and only losing a total of eight points off his serve, the Frenchman was far too consistent against the teenager who did well defensively to save six of nine break point opportunities but just fell short in crunch moments despite seven aces without a double fault.

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