Radu Albot caused the upset of the day on Wednesday at the Antalya Open, storming into the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over second seed Paolo Lorenzi.
The Moldovan scored the lone break in each set to advance in one hour and 21 minutes and reach his ATP World Tour quarter-final. Lorenzi’s struggles on grass continue, with the Italian recording an 11th consecutive loss on the surface.
The surprise win adds to an already wild tournament, with top seed Dominic Thiem falling to Indian qualifier Ramkumar Ramanathan in his opening match on Tuesday.
Read: Ramanthan Stuns Thiem
Next up for Albot is Andreas Seppi, who rallied from a set down to defeat Janko Tipsarevic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. The contest was a rematch of their 2011 Eastbourne final that also saw Seppi prevail when Tipsarevic retired down 3-5 in the final set. The Italian continues to excel on grass, reaching the Eastbourne final in 2012 (l. Roddick) and Halle final in 2015 (l. Federer). He improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Tipsarevic to 2-3, with both wins coming on grass.
Seppi won his lone FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting with Albot this March at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Miami.
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#NextGenATP German and lucky loser Daniel Altmaier continued his dream run in Antalya with his first ATP World Tour quarter-final, fighting back from the brink of defeat to move past wild card and local favourite Marsel Ilhan 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5).
"It's so tough to describe my feelings right now," said Altmaier. "I was out of the tournament and then had the chance to get back into the main draw. I'm just so happy right now. And to do this on the grass, in Antalya, makes it even more special."
Watch: Altmaier Enjoys Antalya Beach Vibe
Ilhan served for the match at 5-4 in the deciding set, but Altmaier broke and then raced to a 5/1 lead in the tie-break before prevailing in two hours and 28 minutes. The German also needed a final-set tie-break to win his first round against Victor Estrella Burgos.
The 18 year old moved into the main draw when fellow #NextGenATP player Hyeon Chung withdrew due to a left ankle injury. Altmaier, currently No. 252 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, qualified for his first ATP World Tour main draw last month in Geneva. He also reached the semi-finals of the ATP Challenger Tour event this January in Bangkok.
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Awaiting Altmaier in the last eight is Yuichi Sugita, who toppled fourth seed David Ferrer 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(2). Sugita squandered a 5-2 lead in the final set, including two match points on his serve at 5-4, but hung tough to advance in two hours and 16 minutes.
Marach/Pavic Battle Into Semi-finals
In a match with no breaks of serve, second seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic survived a marathon quarter-final with Indian duo Purav Raja and Divij Sharan to advance 7-6(9), 6-7(4), 10-4. Marach/Pavic saved two set points at 6/7 and 8/9 in the first-set tie-break. They continue their grass-court success after reaching the Stuttgart final two weeks ago (l. Murray/Soares).
Awaiting them in the semi-finals are fourth seeds Leander Paes and Adil Shamasdin, who dismissed Carlos Berlocq and Joao Sousa 6-1, 6-2 in 50 minutes.
Top seeds Robert Lindstedt and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi moved into the last four with a 3-6, 7-6(4), 10-7 comeback over Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak. Lindstedt/Qureshi will play Jonathan Erlich and Nikola Mektic, who defeated Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya 6-3, 7-6(4).
