Serbia’s thid seed Dusan Lajovic battled past Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (8-6) at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires.
Lajovic saved two set points at 4-6 in the tie-break of the first set and three more chances in the second set on his serve at 5-6 in the second set, before edging Martinez 8-6 in the tie-break of the second set.
Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro upset Borna Coric 6-4 7-6 after 1 hour and 45 minutes to reach his first ATP Tour quarter final since Hamburg 2018.
The match started with three breaks in the first five games of the first set. Coric earned the first break in the second game, as Monteiro netted a backhand. Monteiro pulled the break back in the next game and earned his second break in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead after an error from Coric at the net. Monteiro closed out the opening set 6-4 with a service winner in the 10th game.
Both players held on their serve in the first 12 games of the second set and in the first 12 points of the tie-break. Monteiro did not convert a match point at 6-5 by missing a overhead smash. The Brazilian player earned another mini-break in the next point after a forehand error from Coric and sealed the win with a baseline forehand winner.
Monteiro set up a quarter final clash against Portuguese lucky loser Pedro Sousa, who beat Slovakian qualifier Jozef Kovalik 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-5).
Norway’s Casper Ruud cruised past Roberto Carballes Baena 6-1 6-0 in 57 minutes. Ruud dropped ten points in seven service games. The Scandinavian Next Gen player reeled off eleven games and broke serve five times. Ruud got a break in the fourth game when Carballes Baena netted a backhand. He earned another break at 4-1 after a forehand error from Carballes Baena and sealed the opening set with a hold at 15 to take a 6-1 lead.
Ruud raced out to a 5-0 lead with a forehand winner after three breaks of serve and closed out the match with a hold at 15.
