HELSINKI/STARNBERG, November 16, 2022

Zizou Bergs advanced to the quarterfinals of the third edition of the €67,960 HPP Open hosted by the Tali Tennis Center in Helsinki, Finland. The 23-year-old Belgian backed up his opening round win over third-seeded Dutch Tim van Rijthoven with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2) victory over Alexander Shevchenko of Russia on Wednesday.

Bergs, who is seeking his second ATP Challenger Tour title of the season following his triumph on the grass in Ilkley, struck seven aces and won 63 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after two hours and nine minutes. The World No. 135 will next take on either No. 5 seed Tomas Machac from the Czech Republic or local wild card entry Otto Virtanen.

Flying to the quarterfinals in Helsinki ✈️

🇧🇪 @ZizouBergs 👏#ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/qYNbZWl9MS

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) November 16, 2022

In other action, Adrian Andreev booked his spot the stage of the final eight with a hard-fought 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(2) win over Italian Mattia Bellucci. The 21-year-old Bulgarian withstood 18 aces and broke his rival three times to succeed in two hours and 51 minutes. Andreev will next face the winner of the encounter between Raul Brancaccio of Italy and eighth-seeded Jelle Sels from the Netherlands.

Mikhail Kukushkin benefited from retirement of Russian lucky loser Evgeny Karlovskiy. The qualifier from Kazakhstan was leading 6-4, 4-2 when Karlovskiy was forced to stop playing due to neck pain. Up next for Kukushkin will be Yannick Hanfmann of Germany or Briton Ryan Peniston.