JORDAN Thompson caused the upset of the day against 15th seed Croatian Borna Coric, coming from behind to win in two hours and 14 minutes. The unseeded Australian won 2-6 6-4 6-2 to break up a day of largely predictable results. Ranked 61st in the world, the Sydney local weathered 14 aces off Coric’s racquet and only served the three himself, but was consistent in protecting his serve. Thompson won 44 per cent of his second serve, double the points higher ranked opponent did, also breaking five times to four, of which it was five times to two after the first set.

Diego Schwartzman is in the box seat for a debut at the ATP Finals later this month and he did his chances no harm with a straight sets win over French veteran, Richard Gasquet. The 56th ranked Frenchman held a 3-0 head-to-head record coming into the match, and in fact Schwartzman had never won a set off him previously. That all changed in Paris with the Argentinian winning 7-5 6-3 in an hour and 24 minutes. Both players served six aces, with Gasquet the only one to double fault – three times – as Schwartzman claimed three breaks to one throughout the match, including early leads of 4-1 and 3-0 in he respective first and second sets. Winning 58 per cent of Gasquet’s second serve points whilst winning 65 per cent of his own, the Argentinian is in the best form of his career.

“I’m feeling great, because I have the chance in my hands,” Schwartzman said post-match. “I’m trying to do my best, and I’m feeling really, really good this week. After Rome, I got a lot of confidence and I’ve been playing very good tennis. So I want to be in London, and I hope to be there.”

In other results, fourth seed Alexander Zverev continued his ridiculous form off the back off two titles at Cologne to win easily over Miomir Kecmanovic, defeating the up and coming Serbian. 6-2 6-2. Zverev produced eight aces and won 88 per cent of his first serve points, whilst still controlling 69 per cent of his second serve points. Kecmanovic could only win 62 and 33 per cent of his respective serve points, not able to create a break point and was broken four times from six chances by the red-hot German.

The other three seeds on court earlier in the day also got through unscathed, with Australian 16th seed Alex de Minaur defeating danger man Lorenzo Sonego – who knocked off Novak Djokovic last week – 6-3 7-5 in their Round of 32 clash. Milos Raonic came through with a 6-4 6-4 triumph over French wildcard Pierre-Hugues Herbert for the 10th seed Canadian to advance, whilst third seed Russian Daniil Medvedev had a short time out on court after opponent Kevin Anderson had to retire at 6-6 in the first set allowing safe passage for the Russian.

Frenchman Adrian Mannarino flew the flag for his country as he and Ugo Humbert remained the only home nation players in the tournament after a three-set win over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka. Mannarino won 6-3 6-7 6-3 in an epic two hours and 47 minutes to book a spot in the Round of 16. Joining him was Spanish up and comer Alejandro Davidovich Fokina who qualified through to the main draw, knocked off Karen Khachanov and now has fended off French wildcard Benjamin Bonzi. Davidovich Fokina won 6-4 6-4 to move through to the final 16.

In the late games, Russian Andrey Rublev continued his red-hot form with a 59-minute blitz of Macedonian Radu Albot. The first set lasted just 28 minutes, and the second set was not much longer as Rublev cruised into the Round of 16 with a 6-1 6-2 triumph. Rublev only dropped two points off his first serve and nine points all up to never face a break point, but made good on two of six opportunities from Albot’s serve. It was much tougher for world number two and top seed Rafael Nadal, as the Spaniard came from a set down and a tight second set tiebreaker to defeat experienced compatriot, Feliciano Lopez 4-6 7-6 6-4 to advance through to the Round of 16. Lopez was on song with 22 aces and winning 81 per cent of his first serve points, but Nadal was even better, claiming 16 aces and 89 per cent. Both players only broke once apiece in a match that lasted two and a half hours.

In the final match of the day Stan Wawrinka and Tommy Paul put on a tough showing in a close affair, which at time of publishing was not yet complete, though Paul led 6-4 1-2 in the first hour of play.

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