MAIA/STARNBERG, December 9, 2021

Home favourite Gastao Elias headlined Thursday’s second-round action of the Maia Open by overcoming a topsy-turvy all-Portuguese encounter with wild card entry Tiago Cacao. The No. 3 seed of the €44,820 ATP Challenger Tour 80 clay-court tournament in Northern Portugal emerged victorious 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

Elias converted four of his 12 break-point chances and won 52 per cent of the total points played to prevail after two hours and five minutes.

Gastão Elias wins the Portuguese battle with Tiago Cação 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to reach #MaiaOpen QFs, where he will face Geoffrey Blancaneaux. Nuno Borges also through. pic.twitter.com/e3DZbNHTnh

— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) December 9, 2021

The World No. 227 will next take on Frenchman Geoffrey Blancaneaux, who rallied past Goncalo Oliveira from Portugal 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 16 minutes.

Calvin Hemery caused the upset of the day by knocking out Portuguese No. 4 seed Joao Domingues 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3. The World No. 370 from France struck seven aces and won 76 per cent of his first-service points to secure victory in two hours and 32 minutes.

In his first quarterfinal at Challenger level since finishing runner-up to Quentin Halys in Nanchang, China in April 2018, Hemery will play Chun-Hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei. The sixth favourite beat 19-year-old Romanian Nicholas David Ionel 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 21 minutes.

In other action, Nuno Borges continued his fine run of form with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Aziz Dougaz from Tunisia. The No. 5 seed from Portugal and last week’s champion in Antalya, Turkey will take on second-seeded Belgian Kimmer Coppejans in the stage of the last eight.