ZCZC
BSP-05
TENNIS-ATP-GER-STUTTGART
Pouille and Raonic battle into the last eight
BERLIN, June 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – France’s Lucas Pouille advanced to the last eight of the ATP tournament in Stuttgart on Wednesday, surprising third seed Daniil Medvedev with a hard-fought 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-2 victory.
Pouille took control in the third set to battle past Medvedev and set up a quarter-final meeting with local favourite Jan-Lennard Struff who cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic.
Fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, meanwhile, suffered a second round exit at the hands of Milos Raonic, losing a gruelling game 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (1/7).
Raonic, 28, who missed the whole of the clay season with a knee problem, has now recorded two gruelling three-set wins in Stuttgart to reach the quarter-finals in his first ATP tour appearance since March.
Raonic will face Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics in the quarter-finals, after he sprang a surprise against Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili earlier on Wednesday.
The Hungarian battled to a 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 5-7 win over fourth seed Basilashvili, who sits 35 places above him in the world rankings.
Fucsovics has now beaten Basilashvili in three of their four meetings this season.
BSS/AFP/AU/08:25 hrs