STOCKHOLM, October 18, 2019
Playing his last-ever ATP tournament, Janko Tipsarevic caused a huge upset at the Intrum Stockholm Open on Thursday, knocking out top seed Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-1, 6-1.
The 35-year-old from Serbia broke his opponent’s serve six times to advance to the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 event after 61 minutes.
“Even if I by some miracle win this tournament, this will be my last event in my professional career,” Tipsarevic said during his post-match interview.
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Post match interview with Janko Tipsarevic (@TipsarevicJanko)!
🗯: “Even if I by some miracle win this tournament, this will be my last event in my professional career.”
We feel blessed by having you here, Janko! 🙏@atptour pic.twitter.com/lvOF1uc3w6
— Intrum StockholmOpen (@IntrumSthlmOpen) October 17, 2019
The former World No. 8 will next take on lucky loser Yuichi Sugita of Japan, who defeated Italy’s Stefano Travaglia 7-6(6), 6-4 in one hour and 46 minutes.
Earlier in the day, Pablo Carreno Busta booked his spot in the stage of the final eight with a 6-3, 7-6(2) win over Gianluca Mager of Italy. The No. 5 seed from Spain will next play US-American Sam Querrey.
Denis Shapovalov edged past Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 7-6(3). The fourth seed from Canada sent down 10 aces and won 92 per cent of his first-service points to seal victory in one hour and 32 minutes.
“It was really tough playing against Alexei… He’s got a really big serve so I’m really happy to get the win today. I think I played really well. I think we both played a really good match,” Shapovalov said.
The 20-year-old will next face German qualifier Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, who reached the Gstaad final in July. Stebe beat #NextGenATP Swede Mikael Ymer 6-0, 7-6(5) in one hour and 42 minutes.
