SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS, April 5, 2019

Five Italians advanced to the quarterfinals of the Mouratoglou Open in Sophia Antipolis led by Gianluca Mager, who knocked out Pierre-Hugues Herbert, local favourite and top seed of the €69,280 ATP Challenger clay-court event, winning 7-6(4), 7-5 on Thursday evening.

Mager sent down nine aces, didn’t face a break point and capitalized on one of his own three opportunities to seal victory in one hour and 25 minutes. The No. 16 seed from Sanremo will next take on Filip Krajinovic of Serbia, who received a walkover, as Yannick Hanfmann was forced to withdraw from the match due to an elbow injury.

Roberto Marcora emerged victorious from an all-Italian affair, beating Alessandro Giannessi 6-2, 6-3. Next up for the 29-year-old will be No. 12 seed Filippo Baldi, who beat No. 8 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia 6-3, 6-4.

Two Germans advance 

In the bottom half of the draw, German young gun Rudolf Molleker continued his good run of form by coming back from a set down to overcome Thai-Son Kwiatkowski from the United States 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3. The 18-year-old Oranienburg resident reeled off 10 of the last 13 games to prevail after one hour and 54 minutes.

Molleker will next play Italian veteran Simone Bolelli, who fought past No. 6 seed Lorenzo Sonego 7-6(8), 7-6(3) in two hours and two minutes.

The German teenager will be joined by compatriot Dustin Brown in the stage of the final eight. The 34-year-old Celle native rallied past No. 15 seed Kimmer Coppejans of Belgium 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-2. Brown fired 10 aces, winning 76 per cent of his first service points to advance in two hours and 13 minutes. Up next for “Dreddy” will be Matteo Donati of Italy.