ATP Marseille: Daniil Medvedev tops Jannik Sinner. Felix Auger-Aliassime saves MP's

In their first match on the Tour, the top seed Daniil Medvedev defeated Jannik Sinner 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 after an hour and 19 minutes. The young Italian had the upper hand in the opener before Daniil took charge, dropping only five points in his service games in sets two and three to control the scoreboard and move over the top in no time at all. The Russian lost 15 points in 11 service games, suffering those two breaks in the opener and restoring the order after that to mount the pressure on the youngster who couldn't endure it, getting broken four times from seven chances offered to the US Open finalist to end his run in the second round. Sinner was the player to beat in the opener, serving well and earning an early break in game two when Daniil netted a forehand. The Russian sprayed a backhand error in the sixth game to suffer another break, sending another backhand long in game seven to hand the set to Jannik after just 23 minutes.

With no room for errors, Medvedev started to play much better in set number two, breaking the youngster in game four and again at 4-1 before sealing the set with three winners in game seven to set the decider. There, Jannik played a loose backhand to find himself 3-0 down, winning only one point on the return and allowing Daniil to move over the top with three winners at 5-2. Former Marseille champion Gilles Simon is also through to the quarter-final, ousting Aljaz Bedene 7-6, 6-4 in an hour and 51 minutes. The Frenchman won three points more than the Slovenian, earning two breaks and prevailing in the decisive moments to seal the deal in straight sets. Bedene led 4-2 in the opener before Simon grabbed three consecutive games, returning to the positive side of the scoreboard and wasting a set point at 5-6. Aljaz survived it to reach a tie break where he had a 6-4 advantage, losing four straight points to hand the set to Gilles.

The Frenchman used that momentum to secure a break in the first game of set number two, serving well in the rest of the set to cross the finish line and enter the last eight. A qualifier Egor Gerasimov toppled David Goffin 6-4, 7-6, delivering the first top-10 victory for Belarus since 2006. Trailing 4-2 in the opener, Egor claimed four games in a row to steal the set 6-4, finding the rhythm on both serve and return for a massive boost ahead of set number two. There, he forged a 5-2 advantage against the rival who was miles from his best, wasting a match point on serve in the ninth game and allowing Goffin to extend the set and stay alive. Still, Gerasimov remained composed and clinched the tie break 7-5, seizing the fifth match point to secure the spot in the quarter-final and produce his career-best victory in terms of ranking. For the second match in a row, Felix Auger-Aliassime had to save match points to stay on the title course, repelling three in a 6-0, 6-7, 7-6 triumph over Pierre-Hugues Herbert in two hours and 40 minutes.

The youngster fired 16 aces and never faced a break point, dropping only 20 points behind the initial shot and still needing to play against those match points as Pierre-Hugues refused to surrender. The Canadian stormed over the opponent in the opener to produce a bagel in under 30 minutes, wasting a match point in the second set tie break to lose it 8-6 and keep Herbert in the encounter. Pierre-Hugues barely won a point on the return in all six games of the final set, erasing three match points in games ten and 12 to reach a tie break where he had match points at 6-5, 7-6 and 8-7, halted by Auger-Aliassime who finally prevailed 11-9 to seal this crazy match and advance into the next round. The 4th seed Denis Shapovalov ousted Marin Cilic 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in two hours, losing serve once and dominating in the decider to join Felix Auger-Aliassime and Vasek Pospisil in the quarter-final. 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/38KquOk