APTOS, August 10, 2019

Steve Johnson remains the highest-ranked player left in the singles draw at the Nordic Naturals Challenger in Aptos. The No. 2 seed from the United States defeated 10th favourite Go Soeda of Japan 6-3, 7-6(4) in Friday’s quarterfinals at the Seascape Sports Club.

Johnson fired 14 aces, winning 83 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after one hour and 50 minutes. The World No. 93 will next take on Egor Gerasimov. The No. 6 seed from Belarus knocked off No. 3 seed Taro Daniel of Japan 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 14 minutes.

Earlier in the day, Ernesto Escobedo, who won this year’s US Open Wild Card Challenge, upset top seed Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The 23-year-old US-American capitalized on four of his five break point chances to secure a 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 victory in one hour and 44 minutes. Up next for Escobedo will be Dominik Köpfer. The fourth seed from Germany remained untroubled in his 6-1, 6-4 win over Marcos Giron from the United States. Köpfer finished the encounter after 69 minutes.

RESULTS – AUGUST 09, 2019
Men’s
Singles – Quarterfinals
E. Escobedo (USA) d [1] D. Dzumhur (BIH) 61 36 75
[2] S. Johnson (USA) d [10] G. Soeda (JPN) 63 76(4)
[6] E. Gerasimov (BLR) d [3] T. Daniel (JPN) 63 64
[4] D. Koepfer (GER) d [7] M. Giron (USA) 61 64

Men’s
Doubles – Quarterfinals
[Alt] N. Pasha (USA) / M. Schnur (USA) d R. Bemelmans (BEL) / R. Lindstedt (SWE) 75 76(7)