MONTERREY, March 7, 2020
Ulises Blanch headlined Friday’s quarterfinal action at the Abierto GNP Seguros in Monterrey by knocking out No. 3 seed Pablo Andujar of Spain. The 21-year-old US-American struck 12 aces and won 74 per cent of his first-service points to secure a 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-5 victory in two hours and 22 minutes.
Blanch, who clinched the trophy at the Ann Arbor Challenger earlier this season, will next take on top seed Adrian Mannarino. The World No. 41 from France remained untroubled in his encounter with John-Patrick Smith of Australia. Mannarino broke his opponent’s serve six times to advance by the score of 6-4, 6-1 in 69 minutes.
On Cancha 1, Ernesto Escobedo cruised past Jason Jung from Chinese Taipei 6-2, 6-2. The No. 16 seed from the United States won 63 per cent of the total points played to prevail in only 59 minutes.
Up next for Escobedo will be Aleksandar Vukic, who continued his good run of form this week with a 6-0, 6-3 win over US-American Kevin King. The 23-year-Australian capitalized on five of his nine break point chances to finish the match after 61 minutes.
