Defending Gerry Weber Open champion Florian Mayer continued his top form in Halle on Thursday, rallying from a set down to to reach the quarter-finals over sixth seed Lucas Pouille 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-3.
Mayer squandered a 5-3 lead in the opening set, but secured the lone break in each of the remaining two sets to advance in one hour and 47 minutes. He is now through to an impressive seventh quarter-final in Halle. He arrived at this event last year at No. 192 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, but shocked the home crowd by defeating Dominic Thiem in the semi-finals and Alexander Zverev in the final.
Next up for Mayer is top seed and eight-time Halle champion Roger Federer or fellow German Mischa Zverev. Mayer is winless against both men. Zverev won their lone FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting in Adelaide in 2008, while Federer leads their series 7-0. Three of Federer’s victories over Mayer have been straight-sets wins in Halle (2005, 2012, 2015).
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A pair of #NextGenATP players also moved into the quarter-finals, with Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov recording milestone moments on the grass.
Rublev is through to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final after prevailing in a battle of youth against experience with fellow Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. The 19 year old previously won his opening round this year at the Australian Open and the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Miami. Rublev sits at a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 106, but is projected to move inside the Top 100 when the newest standings are released on Monday.
Awaiting him in the last eight will be Khachanov, who advanced when third seed Kei Nishikori retired with the #NextGenATP player leading at 3-2 in the first set. Khachanov, currently at a career-high ranking of No. 38, is through to his first grass-court quarter-final. He’s looking to reach his first semi-final this year after finishing in the last eight in Barcelona and Lyon.
Nishikori continues to have poor luck with injuries in Halle. He withdrew last year before his second-round match against Florian Mayer and retired down 1-4 in his 2015 semi-final against Andreas Seppi.
