Chardy wins three-hour battle with Fognini

The quarter-final of the Antalaya Open was completed with victories for Matteo Berrettini, Alexander Bublic, Jeremy Chardy and Jan-Lennard Struff completing the line-up of the opening ATP Tour event of the season.

he more matches I play, the better I feel Matteo Berrettini

Both Berrettini, the top seed from Italy, cruised into the last eight as did the eighth seeded Bublic. The pair will now face off for a place in the semi-finals in what could well be an intriguing clash.

Berrettini beat the Bulgarian qualifier Dimitar Kuzmanov 6-2 6-3 in 68-minutes while Bublic produced an equally emphatic 6-2 6-4 win over Frenchman Tristan Lamasine.

The world No.10 Berrettini asserted himself on the match with his powerful serving breaking his opponent five times to secure a well deserved and satisfactory victory.

“The more matches I play, the better I feel,” Berrettini said. “The conditions are pretty slow here, so you need to make sure not to be too passive like at the end of the second set.

“But besides that, I felt good.” And in reference to his forthcoming match with Bublic added: “He serves very well. He’s unpredictable.”

Meanwhile Chardy and Struff filled the remaining slots in the draw by very different means – the Frenchman progressing after a three-hour battle with Fabio Fognini while the German was given a walkover by another Frenchman, Hugo Grenier!

Chardy’s 7-6(4) 6-7(1) 7-6(5) victory was clocked at two-hours and 53-minutes in what was an exciting encounter with both players exchanging breaks of serve at regular intervals.

Fognini, the third seed from Italy, having foiled Chardy’s effort when serving for the match in the second set, served for the match himself in the decider but faltered on a double fault.

It was left for the final tie-break to decide the issue and it was Chardy who got the vital mini-break to lead 4-2, a lead he held to finally deliver a service winner on his first match point to record the upset of the day.