THE third seed in the Open 13 Provence is out, while others progressed through to the quarter finals. At Delray Beach, the favourites advanced, but not without a couple of tough battles.

DELRAY BEACH OPEN – DELRAY BEACH, UNITED STATES:

Steve Johnson has survived a gallant fight from American wildcard and former top 10 player, Jack Sock. The 27-year-old Sock, who was once ranked eighth in the world just over two years ago, is on the comeback trail from injury and is making his way up the rankings again. Earning a wildcard at the Delray Beach event, he pushed the top 100 compatriot across two hours and four minutes, with Johnson eventually prevailing, 6-4 5-7 6-1. The match-hardened Johnson was a bit cleaner across the board with a 70 per cent success rate off his first serve (compared to 67 per cent) and a 53 per cent success rate off his second serve (43 per cent). He also broke four times from five chances, while Sock could only break twice from six. The win moved Johnson up to 73rd in the world and into a quarter final at the hardcourt event.

Johnson now faces second seed, Milos Raonic in the final eight after the Canadian downed German, Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 7-5 6-3. In other results, sixth seed Frenchman, Ugo Humbert made his way through to the quarters with a straight sets win over Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, while Frances Tiafoe had a tough battle with compatriot Tommy Paul in the all-American match, to win 7-5 7-6.

ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[2] M. Raonic (CAN) defeated C. Stebe (GER) 7-5 6-3.
[6] U. Humbert (FRA) defeated M. Kecmanovic (SRB) 6-4 7-6
F. Tiafoe (USA) defeated T. Paul (USA) 7-5 7-6
S. Johnson (USA) defeated [WC] J. Sock (USA) 6-4 5-7 6-1

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OPEN 13 PROVENCE – MARSEILLE, FRANCE:

World number four and number one seed, Daniil Medvedev has overcome a first set deficit to defeat Italian rising star, Jannik Sinner in three sets. The talented hard-hitting Russian dropped the first set 6-1, but once he got going powered on to victory leaving the 18-year-old in his wake. Medvedev served seven aces and won 79 and 67 per cent of his first and second serve points respectively, while breaking four times from seven chances. Sinner only had two chances but made the most of both, breaking his highly rated opponent twice in the first set to skip out to an early lead. While many might have sensed an upset was in the works, the Russian managed to get back on track and storm to victory in an hour and 20 minutes – extremely quick for a three-set match.

Medvedev now faces Frenchman, Gilles Simon in the quarter finals after Simon downed Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene 7-6 6-4. In other results, fourth seed Denis Shapovalov won his first match since prior to the Australian Open with a 6-4 4-6 6-2 triumph over Marin Cilic. Fellow Canadian, Felix Auger-Aliassime also made it through to the quarter finals – making it three Canadians in total in the last eight with Vasek Pospisil– after defeating Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-0 6-7 7-6 in an absolute thriller that went until the teenager won 11-9 in the deciding tiebreak. Auger-Aliassime will now play Belarusian qualifier, Egor Gerasimov who stunned third seed Belgian, David Goffin in straight sets, 6-4 7-6.

ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[1] D. Medvedev (RUS) defeated J. Sinner (ITA) 1-6 6-1 6-2
[Q] E. Gerasimov (BLR) defeated [3] D. Goffin (BEL) 6-4 7-6
[4] D. Shapovalov (CAN) defeated M. Cilic (CRO) 6-4 4-6 6-2
[7] F. Auger-Aliassime (CAN) defeated P. Herbert (FRA) 6-0 6-7 7-6
G. Simon (FRA) defeated A. Bedene (SLO) 7-6 6-4