In three ongoing ATP-250 tournaments in Konzum Croatia Open at Umag, SkiStar Swedish Open at Bastad and Colombia’s Claro Open at Bogota, young guns Austria’s Dominic Thiem, Croatia’s Borna Coric and Australia’s Bernard Tomic made their presence felt amongst the established players. While Thiem and Coric reached the quarterfinals at Umag, Tomic did the same at Bogota. Thiem was leading in the second set, when his Serbian opponent Dusan Lajovic retired. Croatia’s Borna Coric also reached the round-of-eight by defeating Great Britain’s Aliaz Bedene. Others, who progressed to the quarterfinalists at Umag were; no.1 seed Gael Monfils, Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria, Philippe Kohlschreiber of Germany, Spaniard no.2 seed Roberto Bautista Agut, Fabio Fognini of Italy, and Portugal’s Joao Sousa. In Bastad, the quarterfinal line-up is complete with Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo, French qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu, Benoit Paire of France, Steve Darcis of Belgium, Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas, Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin and Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci all making it to the last eight. In Claro Open at Bogota, the quarterfinal line-up features Croat Ivo Karlovic, Czech Radek Stepanek, Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, Tunisian Malek Jaziri, German Michael Berrer, Dominican Republic’s Victor Estrella Burgos, Japanese Tatsuma Ito and Australian Bernard Tomic.
In the 2015 Umag Open in Croatia, 21-year old Austrian Dominic Thiem made it to the quarterfinal. Thiem was leading 6-3, 3-1, when Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic retired. Another rising star, Borna Coric of Croatia defeated Great Britain’s Aliaz Bedene 6-4, 6-4. Other to make it to the QF at Umag were; top-seeded Gael Monfils, who beat Austrian Bastian Trinker 6-3, 6-0; Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria shocked Slovak 8th seeded Martin Klizan 6-4, 6-4; Germany’s Philippe Kohlschreiber beat Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-2, 7-5; Spaniard no.2 seed Roberto Bautista Agut triumphed over Slovenia’s Blaz Kavcic 6-1, 6-2; Fabio Fognini of Italy beat Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 7-5 and Portugal’s Joao Sousa defeated Italian no.3 seed Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-2. For a place in the semifinals on Friday, Monfils will face Kohlschreiber, Bautista Agut will take on Borna Coric, Thiem will play fellow Austrian Haider-Maurer and Fognini will play against Joao Sousa.
In the SkiStar Swedish Open at Bastad, two-time former champion and no.2 seed Spain’s Tommy Robredo defeated compatriot Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 6-4 to reach the round-of-eight. Joining Robredo in QFs were; Paul-Henri Mathieu of France, who defeated Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-3; another Frenchman Benoit Paire shocked Belgium’s top-seeded David Goffin 6-2, 6-3; Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan beat Spain’s Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-3; no.3 seed Portuguese defending champion Pablo Cuevas defeated Argentina’s Federico Delbonis 6-4, 6-7, 6-0; Belgium’s Steve Darcis defeated no.8 seed Jerzy Janowicz of Poland 6-1, 6-4.
In Bogota’s Claro Open, Frenchman Adrian Mannarino avenged his last week’s loss against Newport’s title winner Rajeev Ram of USA and entered the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-3 win. Others to reach the Claro Open QF were; Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic, who defeated Colombia’s Daniel Elahi Galan 6-7, 6-1, 6-3; Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek beat Australian Sam Groth 6-4, 6-0; Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri defeated American Alexander Sarkissian 6-7, 6-3, 6-2; Germany’s Michael Berrer scored against Brazil’s Marcelo Demoliner 6-3, 7-6; Dominican Republic’s Victor Estrella Burgos defeated Japanese Yuichi Sugita 6-4, 6-7, 6-2; Japan’s Tatsuma Ito beat Colombia’s Alejandro Gomez 6-1, 5-7, 6-0 and Australian Bernard Tomic completed the QF line-up by beating Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 6-7, 6-2, 6-4.
