Wednesday on the Challenger circuit has thrown up one of those tantalising clashes that make these forms of tournaments so special, the top seed of the tournament facing a former Top 10 player.
Both Tommy Robredo and Pierre-Hugues Herbert have had a difficult run just to get this match-up. Herbert had to save a match point against Pedja Krstin in his opening 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 win on Tuesday. The match featured twenty double-faults though Herbert’s strong serve helped him through the final set.
Robredo, meanwhile had to deal with Steven Diez of Canada, edging a player demonstrating career-high form by an even closer margin, 7-6, 6-7, 7-5 in a marathon match lasting just over three hours.
Meanwhile the Russian teenager Andrey Rublev was forced to endure a similar test against Germany’s Cedric-Marcel Stebe 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
There were comfortable wins for most other seeds as Daniil Medvedev, Steve Darcis, Vincent Millot,and Denis Istomin emerged from the first round without the loss of a set. Third seed Thomas Fabbiano and sixth seed Lukas Lacko dropped sets against Luca Vanni and Ivan Ivashka respectively. The only seed to fall at the first hurdle was second seed Andrej Martin, who lost to the qualifier and former Top 100 player Michal Przysiezny 4-6, 7-6, 6-4. Martin lost despite holding match points in the second set tie-breaker.
The second round staring on Wednesday saw the first shock as Marius Copil defeated Vincent Millot 7-6, 6-1. The home favourite delighted the crowd in knocking out the in-form eighth seed, hitting fourteen aces in the one hour and thirteen minutes match. Steve Darcis avoided a similar fate as he beat Laslo Djere 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals.
Herbert-Robredo is not the only exciting encounter form the Budapest. An all Russian affair between Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev is second on Centre Court. Both are highly-touted juniors, and though Rublev is perhaps the better known name due to a stellar junior career and strong ATP exposure over the last two seasons, Medvedev is actually ranked sixty-one places above his compatriot in the rankings. Standing at 6’6, Medvedev’s serve is likely to be a key factor in the match-up, though Rublev has taken on the likes of Tomas Berdych and Kenny de Schepper, who are both big servers. Medvedev could break the ATP Top 100 for the first time in his career with a tournament win.
