MARBELLA, March 28, 2018
Kimmer Coppejans has caused the upset of the Casino Admiral Trophy so far by knocking out Roberto Carballés Baena, No. 1 seed of the €43,000 ATP Challenger clay court event. The Belgian qualifier defeated the World No. 78 from Tenerife 6-3, 7-6 in Wednesday’s second round encounter at the Puente Romano Beach Resort and Spa in Marbella.
Coppejans saved all four break points he faced, converting one of his own to prevail after two hours and two minutes. The 24-year-old Oostende native will next take on seventh favourite Stefano Travaglia of Italy.
No. 3 seed Marco Cecchinato remains the highest ranked player left in the singles draw. The World No. 97 rallied past Austria’s Sebastian Ofner 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. Cecchinato won 52 per cent of the total points played to secure victory in two hours and 15 minutes.
The match ended in a special way:
Funny end of Cecchinato-Ofner: Ofner had earlier a warning for ball abuse and was so smart to hit ball in the sky after going match point down…so point penalty and game set match Cecchinato pic.twitter.com/dpk6F3oa5j
— Stefano Berlincioni (@Carretero77) 28. März 2018
Next up for Cecchinato will be Ramkumar Ramanathan of India. Cecchinator will be joined by compatriot Simone Bolelli, who will face Guido Andreozzi of Argentina in the quarterfinals.
Martin Klizan beat Australian teenager Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 7-5 and play against Marco Trungelliti next. The Argentine qualifier edged out Spanish wild card entry Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 6-3 in 63 minutes.
