KOBLENZ, January 17, 2018

No. 3 seed Alexey Vatutin is the highest ranked player left in the singles draw of the Koblenz Open. The World No. 178 from Russia had to fight hard to reach the quarterfinals of the ATP Challenger 80 event.

Vatutin battled past Uladzimir Ignatik of Belarus 6-4, 6-7(6), 7-6(6) on Thursday afternoon. The 26-year-old Volgograd native won six points more than his opponent to prevail after two hours and 42 minutes. Vatutin will next take on Italian Gianluca Mager, who knocked off No. 11 seed Filip Horansky of Slovakia 7-6(4), 6-3.

Casper Ruud, the tournament’s top seed, fellow to Tallon Griekspoor from the Netherlands. After taking the opening set 6-3, the 20-year-old Norwegian lost in the following 6-1, 6-2. The encounter lasted one hour and 30 minutes and the Dutch will next play Kaichi Uchida of Japan.

Later in the evening, No. 2 seed and last German standing, Yannick Maden, fell to Roberto Ortega-Olmedo of Spain 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The 27-year-old from Madrid, who played several tournaments in America over the last couple of months and lifted the trophy of the ITF Pro Circuit event in Columbus in November, is making a strong return to the European continent. Ortega-Olmedo capitalized on five of his 14 break point opportunities to secure victory in two hours and eight minutes. Up next for the World No. 323 will be No. 7 seeded Swedish youngster Mikael Ymer.