Arthur Fils, Holger Rune set up quarterfinal clash in Hamburg Open

Hamburg: Frenchman Arthur Fils maintained his chances of turning consistency into the biggest title of his career as he made it to the quarterfinals of the Hamburg Open, the ATP 500 event being played on clay. The French star surged ahead into the last-eight stage with a 7-6(3), 6-2 triumph against 2023 finalist Laslo Djere. Fils, who himself reached the semifinals in Hamburg a year ago, has now reached six tour-level quarterfinals this season.

Awaiting the Frenchman in the last eight will be second seed Holger Rune, who enjoyed a straight sets win of his own against Marco Trungelliti.

Fils was in trouble at 4-4, 15/40 in the opening set of his first ATP head-to-head clash with Djere. The 20-year-old dug deep to hold serve from there, however, and went on to dominate the first-set tie-break before racing through the second set.

The current leader in the ATP Live Race To Jeddah, Fils saved six of seven break points he faced against Djere, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to a one-hour, 46-minute win in hot and humid conditions in Hamburg.

Fils is just the fifth man to reach multiple Hamburg quarterfinals before the age of 21, after Mats Wilander, Kent Carlsson, Novak Djokovic, and Andrei Medvedev.

Rune converted three of six break points he earned en route to a 6-4, 6-3 triumph against the Argentine qualifier. With his 80-minute triumph, the second seed became the first Danish man to reach the Hamburg quarterfinals in the Open Era.

The 21-year-old Rune was particularly happy to back up his opening win against Fabian Marozsan in Germany, where he is competing for the first time since his Wimbledon run ended with a straight-sets fourth-round defeat to Novak Djokovic.

In the top half of the draw, Zhang Zhizhen set a potential quarterfinal clash with top seed and defending champion Alexander Zverev by beating Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 7-6(5). IANS

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