MONTERREY, March 6, 2020
Adrian Mannarino booked his spot in the quarterfinals of the Abierto GNP Seguros. The top seed of the $108,320 ATP Challenger hard-court tournament eased past No. 14 seeded Canadian Peter Polansky 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday afternoon in Monterrey.
Mannarino, who opened his title bid with a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 win over Harry Bourchier of Australia on Wednesday, saved two of the three break points he faced and capitalized on five of his own seven break point opportunities to advance in 61 minutes. Up next for the World No. 41 from France will be John-Patrick Smith. The 31-year-old Australian defeated Gian Marco Moroni of Italy 7-6(7), 6-1.
On Cancha 1, Pablo Andujar also remained untroubled in his third-round match against Andrew Harris from Australia. The No. 3 seed from Spain won 58 per cent of the total points played to secure a 6-2, 6-2 victory in one hour and 13 minutes. Andujar will next face Ulises Blanch from the United States, who knocked off Italian veteran and No. 7 seed Paolo Lorenzi 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 after two hours and 17 minutes.
Aleksandar Vukic emerged victorious from the all-Australian affair with Bernard Tomic, winning 6-4, 6-4. The 23-yera-old Sydney resident fired 15 aces and won 89 per cent of his first-service points to prevail in just under one hour of play. Vukic will next take on US-American Kevin King, who battled past Guilherme Clezar of Brazil 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4.
In the remaining quarterfinal No. 6 seed Jason Jung of Chinese Taipei will oppose No. 16 seed Ernesto Escobedo from the United States. Jung cruised past ninth favourite Lorenzo Giustino of Italy 6-1, 6-2 and Escobedo took out No. 4 seed Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 7-6(5), 7-6(5).
