All top four seeds Marin Cilic, Alexander Zverev Ivo Karlovic and Gilles Muller advanced to the quarter finals for the first time in the history of the Ricoh Open in s’Hertogenbosch, a ATP 250 tournament.
This year’s Rome Masters 1000 winner Alexander Zverev cruised past Julien Benneteau 6-0 6-4 in just 56 minutes. The Next Gen player never faced a break point and dropped ten points in eight service games. Benneteau was broken three times during the first set. Zverev won 17 of his first 22 points to claim a bagel win in the first set after 20 minutes. Benneteau played much better in the second set, but Zverev claimed his only break of the second set and served out for the match in the next game to advance to his fourth semifinal of the season.
“You always have to stay focused, especially against a guy like Julien. You lose your serve once and it’s tough to get it back. I am happy to be through now. I grew up on clay courts, but the grassi s so good these days that you can play your natural game and slide into strokes”, said Zverev.
Zverev will face Gilles Muller, who overcame Aljaz Bedene by 6-3 3-6 6-4 after one hour and 4 minutes. Muller fended off four of the six break points he faced and got the crucial break in the final game of the match after rallying from 1-3 down in the decisive set. Bedene saved eight of the eleven break points he faced. Muller broke serve to open up a 3-0 lead in the first set before saving two break points in the seventh game to wrap up the first set by 6-3. Bedene had to fend off four break points and got his only break point chance in the sixth game to win the second set 6-3. Bedene broke serve in the third game of the decider but Muller broke back in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3. Muller saved two break points in the ninth game before breaking serve at love in the 10th game to advance to the semifinal.
Marin Cilic beat Vasek Pospisil 6-3 7-5 to clinch the 50th match win on grass of his career. Cilic came back from 2-5 down in the second set by reeling off the final five games to claim the second set.
Cilic set up a semifinal against Ivo Karlovic, who beat Russian qualifier Danil Medvedev 6-4 6-4 in 58 minutes to reach his first semifinal of the year. Karlovic never faced a break point in the whole match. There were no break points in the first eight games. Karlovic got the first break in the ninth game and served out for the first set in the next game. Karlovic broke serve to 15 at the start of the second set and never looked back to close out the match in the 10th game. Karlovic won 28 of his 32 first service points.
