Australian qualifier James Duckworth pulled off a three-set upset over American No. 2 seed Ben Shelton, winning 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3 on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Boss Open in Stuttgart, Germany. Despite Shelton’s 21 aces, his eight double faults and struggles on second serves proved costly. Duckworth capitalized by winning 60 percent of his second-return points (18 of 30).
Duckworth’s next opponent will be Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, who advanced by defeating Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-4 in just 74 minutes, playing on a protected ranking.
In other matches, No. 7 seed Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany beat France’s Arthur Rinderknech 6-4, 7-6 (0), and Brandon Nakashima defeated French lucky loser Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-4 in 71 minutes.
Top Seeds Advance at Libema Open
At the Libema Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, the top two seeds, Alex de Minaur of Australia and Tommy Paul of the U.S., progressed to the next round. Top-seeded de Minaur overcame Belgian lucky loser Zizou Bergs 7-5, 6-4. Meanwhile, No. 2 seed Paul rallied from a set down to defeat Australia’s Alexei Popyrin 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Paul impressed with 10 aces and minimized unforced errors (11 to Popyrin’s 18).
Paul will face fellow American and seventh seed Sebastian Korda in the quarterfinals, after Korda’s straight-set victory over Italian Luca Nardi, 7-5, 7-5. Canadian Milos Raonic will challenge de Minaur, following his comeback win against Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
In another upset, Australian Aleksandar Vukic defeated Russian No. 4 seed Karen Khachanov 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (4), firing 14 aces without a single double fault.
