US Next Gen player Alex Michelsen cruised past Christopher O’Connell 6-1 6-4 in 1 hour and 19 minutes to reach the quarter finals at the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships.
Michelsen saved all three break points he faced to advance to his second ATP 500 quarter final of the season after reaching this stage in Washington.
Michelsen broke twice in the second and fourth games to race out to a 4-0 lead and served out the opening set 6-1 on his third set point. Michelsen converted his second break point to take a 3-2 lead in the fifth game of the second set. O’Connell saved a match point when he was serving to stay in the match. Michelsen served out the win 6-4 on his first match point.
Michelsen reached two finals in Newport and Winston Salem this year and is ranked second in the Race to the Next Gen Finals.
“The quality of these matches was good, getting my rhythm here. I feel like I have been attacking really well, coming to the net a lot especially today. I felt like I served really well and won a lot of points on that and that’s what I have working on, so I am happy with that. I am only going to play a couple more tournaments this year. I am feeling really good to finish the year strong”, said Michelsen.
Michelsen set up a quarter final match against Tomas Machac, who came back from one set down to beat Tommy Paul 2-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4).
Paul broke twice in the fifth and seventh games and served out the first set 6-2 after saving three break points. Paul was not able to convert four break points in the first game of the second set. The Czech player broke serve at love in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. Paul converted his fourth break-back in the fifth game for 2-3. The US player had three game points that would have brought him to 3-3 after getting back on serve.
Machac broke serve at deuce in the sixth game and closed out the second set on his third set point after saving a break point in the ninth game.
Paul broke serve in the second game at deuce and held serve at love to open up a 3-0 lead in the decider. Machac broke back in the fifth game and held serve in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3. Paul saved two break points in the 11th game. Machac earned the first mini-break with a backhand return up the line off Paul’s return serve to win the tie-break 7-5 after 2 hours and 34 minutes.
“I just had to play much better in the second set. The third set was unbelievable from my side. It’s tough conditions, but for me it’s great”, said Machac.
Paul became the sixth seeded player knocked out before the quarter finals.
