Last year’s ATP Newcomer of the Year Jenson Brooksby overcame Andreas Seppi 6-3 3-6 6-3 at the Dallas Open.
Brooksby opened up a 2-0 lead with a break in the second game. Seppi broke straight back in the third game and held serve at deuce to draw level to 2-2. Brooksby broke in the eighth game to take the first set 6-3. Seppi broke in the fourth game and held serve in a five-deuce game (the longest of the match) to seal the second set 6-3 forcing the match to a decider.
Brooksby got the decisive break in the fourth game of the third set to open up a 4-1 lead. Seppi missed a break-back point at 2-4 before Brooksby sealed the win on his first match point.
“I thought having a good game at 3-5 in the second set, even though I didn’t get the break back, just to get the feel on the return better and play better was going into the third set. I thought I stayed pretty calm out there, a good balance of calm and competing, which is always a focus of mine”, said Brooksby.
Brooksby set up a quarter final match against Jordan Thompson, who upset eighth seed Brandon Nakashima 7-5 7-6 (7-1).
Vasek Pospisil saved a match point to beat Austria’s Jurij Rodionov 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 setting up a quarter final against John Isner.
Pospisil dropped his serve in the third game of the first set, but he broke back in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Rodionov earned three set points at 6-3 and closed out the tie-break on his first set point.
Pospisil faced only three more break points in the second set and saved all of them, including on match point down at 5-6 30-40 in the second set. The Canadian player earned two breaks in the second and eighth games to close out the third set 6-2.
Reilly Opelka fired 28 aces to battle past Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (10-8) in 1 hour and 49 minutes. The match did not feature any break points. Opelka fended off two set points in the second tie-break, before sealing the win on his second match point. The US player will face Adrian Mannarino, who cruised past Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3 6-1.
