The No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner defeated French wild card Gael Monfils 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday in Rotterdam, Netherlands, to advance to the ABN AMRO Open semifinals. On a day when the third and fourth seeds were eliminated in three sets.
Monfils ended with a 21-13 advantage in winners, including a 6-3 advantage in aces, and saved three of the five break points that he faced. However, Sinner dominated on his second serve (17 of 23, 73.9 percent) and first serve (winning 37 of 49 points, 75.5 percent).
No. 3 was replaced by Kazakhstani Alexander Shevchenko. Holger Rune of Denmark defeated No. 4 Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, and Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands achieved the same.
Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz of Spain fought through the first match of his title defense in Buenos Aires, defeating Argentinian qualifier Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-2, 7-5.
Alcaraz received a first-round bye before taking the court Thursday to face Carabelli, who took a 2-0 lead in the second set. Alcaraz won the next five games, but Carabelli saved two match points en route to tying the match at 5 before the Spanish star pulled away.
Alcaraz’s quarterfinal opponent will be Italian qualifier Andrea Vavassori, who upset No. 7 seed Laslo Djere of Serbia 6-4, 7-5. Vavassori went 4-for-4 on break-point opportunities.
The No. 2 seed also fell in three sets, as Argentina’s Federico Coria beat favored Brit Cameron Norrie 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. Coria had five aces and saved seven of nine break points. In the final match of the day, Argentinian fifth seed Sebastian Baez topped Italian Luciano Darderi 6-4, 7-5.
