Australian John Millman let slip an upset opportunity earlier this year in Brisbane, where he squandered two match points against reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov. But the 28-year-old did not stumble with the lead in a big moment Thursday at the Gazprom Hungarian Open.
Millman defeated top seed and defending champion Lucas Pouille, the World No. 14, 6-3, 6-4 to clinch the best win of his career by ATP Ranking. The Australian moves into an ATP World Tour quarter-final for the first time since 2016 Winston-Salem, where he advanced to the semi-finals (l. to Carreno Busta).
"Really happy with how I played, how I stuck with it mentally. I thought I took my chances well today," said Millman, who prior to this week had not played on clay since last September. "I've come close a few times as of late but couldn't quite get through, so a really good result, especially considering it's my first tournament on clay in a long time."
Pouille, who triumphed in Montpellier and reached the final in Marseille and Dubai, falls to 13-7 on the season.
Italian Andreas Seppi was down a set and a break in his first-round match in Budapest. But after surviving that battle, he has rode the momentum. On Thursday he moved into his second tour-level quarter-final of the season, beating former World No. 8 Mikhail Youzhny 6-1, 6-2 in 63 minutes, losing just three points on his first serve. Youzhny remains three victories away from No. 500 in his career.
The 34-year-old Seppi’s efforts in Hungary come on the heels of a strong performance last week when in Monte-Carlo, where he qualified before winning two three-setters to advance to the Round of 16 at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. It was only the second time Seppi reached that round in 12 Monte-Carlo appearances. Seppi also reached the semi-finals at Rotterdam in February before losing to eventual champion Roger Federer.
In the next round, Seppi will face a surprise opponent. #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov lost his third consecutive match, as Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili ousted the 19-year-old 6-2, 6-4 in 69 minutes.
“I think Nikoloz played really well today,” Shapovalov said. “He came out firing. I had my chances early on and didn’t take advantage and then he took advantage. After that it was kind of hard to get a rhythm.”
Before advancing to the quarter-finals two weeks ago in Marrakech, Basilashvili had lost seven of his past eight tour-level matches. But with his performance in Morocco and his upset of Shapovalov, the 26-year-old has now reached two straight quarter-finals.
Did You Know?
Andreas Seppi has finished inside the Top 100 of the year-end ATP Rankings for 13 consecutive years.