LISBON/STARNBERG, September 30, 2021
Four seeded players advanced to the quarterfinals of the Del Monte Lisboa Belém Open led by World No. 116 Hugo Gaston. The No. 3 seed of the €44,820 ATP Challenger Tour clay-court tournament, being held at the Club International de Football in Lisbon, Portugal, battled past Dutch veteran Robin Haase 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 on Thursday evening.
The 20-year-old Toulouse native withstood seven aces and broke Haase’s serve five times to prevail after two hours and 16 minutes. Gaston will next take on No. 6 seed Cedrik-Marcel Stebe from Germany, who also came back from a set down to overcome Nuno Borges of Portugal 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 after two hours and 27 minutes.
Hugo Gaston avoids the upset, defeats Robin Haase 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 to grab the last spot in #LisboaBelemOpen quarterfinals. Will face Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in tomorrow’s afternoon session. pic.twitter.com/U3tgaQFxK8
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) September 30, 2021
Eighth seed Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan defeated German qualifier Benjamin Hassan 6-2, 6-4 to face Joao Domingues. The 27-year-old Portuguese ended the run of Polish qualifier Daniel Michalski 6-2, 6-2 to reach his first quarterfinal since November 2019.
In the top half of the draw, Andrea Pellegrino of Italy, who knocked the tournament’s top seed Thiago Monteiro on Wednesday, will play local favourite Frederico Ferreira Silva and No. 4 seed Andrej Martin from Slovakia will take on No. 5 seed Nikola Milojevic of Serbia.
#LisboaBelemOpen @ATPChallenger QFs:
🇮🇹 Andrea Pellegrino vs. 🇵🇹 Frederico Silva
🇸🇰 [4] Andrej Martin vs. 🇷🇸 [5] Nikola Milojevic
🇩🇪 [6] Cedrik-Marcel Stebe vs. 🇫🇷 [3] Hugo Gaston
🇰🇿 [8] Dmitry Popko vs. 🇵🇹 João Domingues pic.twitter.com/vZ00UQW2YQ— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) September 30, 2021
