Quarter final Friday at the Charles Sturt Adelaide International followed the trend of the week with the last two seeds remaining in the draw exiting the tournament.
In the biggest upset of the day, number 1 seed Yuichi Sugita was defeated by Great Britain’s James Ward in straight sets in a dominant display from the Brit. Ward was relentless from the baseline and Sugita could not handle the heat as he was constantly on the back foot against the aggressive Britain.
Australian number five seed Sam Groth went down in a tight match against Russian Alexander Lobkov. Lobkov survived 19 aces from the Australian and played the big points better than Groth in the 7-6 7-6 win which may cause Groth some sleepless nights after he held a 5– 3 lead in both tiebreak’s.
Lobkov will go on to play Australian Matthew Barton who played some of the best tennis of his career to beat Frenchman Stephane Robert in straight sets. Barton who lost to Robert in the semi finals in Burnie last weekend got revenge on Robert who could not handle the pace of the Australians forehand.
In the battle of the Australians world number one junior Nick Kyrgios defeated Greg Jones in straight sets to progress to his first ever ATP Challenger semi final. With the win Kyrgios will move into the top 600 in the world and has the opportunity to rise as high as 400 if he takes out the championship. It is a major step forward for 17 year old Kyrgios who is looking to transition to the senior tour after winning the Australian Open Junior title last month. Kyrgios will now play Ward in the second match on centre court tomorrow.
Semi final Saturday will start from 11:00am
For further media information please contact:
Ty Allen, Tournament Director, 0411 762 404
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