SIBIU/STARNBERG, September 30, 2021

Top seed Stefano Travaglia from Italy leads the the quarterfinals line-up at the Sibiu Open, an ATP Challenger 80 tournament hosted by the Tennis Club Pamira in Sibiu, Romania. The World No. 97 didn’t drop a set in his opening match against Czech veteran Lukas Rosol and also showed a solid performance during his second-round win over Russian qualifier Yan Bondarevskiy.

Travaglia saved all five break-points he faced and capitalized on four of his own seven break-point opportunities to seal a 6-3, 6-2 victory in one hour and seven minutes.

The 29-year-old from Ascoli, who is seeking his fifth Challenger career trophy this week, his first since 2019, will next take on Zdenek Kolar from Czech Republic, who ended the run of local qualifier and World No. 2021 Stefan Palosi, winning 7-5, 7-5 after two hours and seven minutes.

Geoffrey Blancaneaux from France edged past No. 4 seed Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in one hour and 52 minutes to meet Sumit Nagal in the stage of the final eight. The No. 8 seed from India beat Czech youngster Jiri Lehecka 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 26 minutes.

Molcan to face Kokkinakis

In the bottom half of the draw, Alex Molcan of Slovakia rallied from a set down to overcome Vit Kopriva from the Czech Republic 1-6, 6-0, 6-4. The No. 3 seed of the €44,820 clay-court event won 56 per cent of the total points played to prevail after one hour and 42 minutes.

Up next for Molcan will be No. 7 seeded Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, who eased past Ergi Kirkin of Turkey 6-1, 6-1 in 79 minutes.

Italian Franco Agamenone beat Vitaliy Sachko from the Ukraine 7-6(4), 7-5 in a two hour and 13 minute-battle to face No. 6 seed Marc-Andrea Huesler of Switzerland. The runner-up of last week’s indoor hard-court tournament in Biel beat qualifier Yshai Oliel of Israel 6-4, 6-1. The encounter lasted one and a half hour.