Less than a month ago in Budapest, Andreas Seppi saw his hopes of capturing his first ATP World Tour title since 2012 (Moscow) come to an end in the semi-finals against eventual first-time champion Marco Cecchinato.
The Italian veteran got revenge against his compatriot, ousting Cecchinato 7-5, 6-4 in one hour, 38 minutes at the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open on Sunday.
It was a successful debut in Geneva for the 34-year-old Seppi, who just three weeks ago reentered the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings for the first time since 27 June 2016. The 6’3” right-hander lost to No. 16 seed Lucas Pouille in a third-set tie-break last week at his home ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
The No. 7 seed will next face German Florian Mayer or Spanish qualifier Bernabe Zapata Miralles. Seppi owns a 4-2 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead against Mayer.
In the only other main draw singles action of the day, Sofia champion Mirza Basic defeated 2017 finalist and No. 8 seed Mischa Zverev 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in one hour, 53 minutes. The 26-year-old advances to face American Tennys Sandgren or Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer.
Mirnyi/Oswald Stunned
A wild card team of home favorites made waves in the doubles draw on Sunday, as Antoine Bellier and Johan Nikles ousted No. 3 seeds Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald 3-6, 6-1, 10-5. Mirnyi/Oswald triumphed in New York and Houston earlier this year.
Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey beat German Peter Gojowczyk and Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-3, 6-4.