Top seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy had little trouble Sunday dispatching qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-3, 6-3 at the Chengdu Open in Chengdu, China.
Musetti, the ninth-ranked player in the world, took advantage of 15 unforced errors by his opponent and hit 66 percent on first serves with seven aces.
He’ll next face Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan, who emerged from a battle of previous-round upset winners with Taro Daniel of Japan to win 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-2.
On the other side of the bracket, fourth-seeded Brandon Nakashima defeated fellow American Marcos Giron 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (3). That win set up a semifinal match for Nakashima with Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo, who came back to dispatch Australia’s Christopher O’Connell 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Lynk & Co Hangzhou Open
A day after ousting No. 1 seed Andrey Rublev, French qualifier Valentin Royer maintained his magic in defeating Learner Tien 7-6 (0), 4-6, 6-2. Royer had 11 aces and 32 winners in the victory.
His semifinal opponent will be countryman Corentin Moutet, who won when Argentinian opponent Tomas Martin Etcheverry retired despite leading 6-3, 0-3 at the time.
In other quarterfinal action, No. 3 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan dominated Dalibor Svrcina 6-1, 6-1. He next faces China’s Yibing Wu, who ousted No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in an upset.
–Field Level Media
