American Sebastian Korda advanced to his fourth tour-level quarter-final of the season on Wednesday at the Winston-Salem Open, where he moved past Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 7-6(5), 6-3.
The 23-year-old earned an opening-round win against Benjamin Bonzi and backed that up with a hard-fought display against Fucsovics. Korda rallied from 3-5 in the first set before he struck 13 winners in the second set to advance after one hour and 53 minutes at the ATP 250.
“It was a very close first set,” Korda said. “I think as a player you take a lot of confidence in that. You have the upper hand and [then] it was time to push a little harder and be more aggressive and take the chances when they come.
“I think on the big [points] I played pretty solid and did not make many mistakes. As the match progressed, the longer the rallies got and the more I felt comfortable.”
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Earlier this year, Korda advanced to the final in Auckland, where he held championship point against Novak Djokovic before falling. The third seed, who reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, is up three spots to No. 30 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.
Korda will continue the quest for his first tour-level trophy of the season against veteran Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who rallied from a set down to defeat former Next Gen ATP Finals champion Brandon Nakashima 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. The 37-year-old won 85 per cent of points on his first serve en route to his 602nd career victory.
Sixth-seeded Argentine Sebastian Baez toughed out a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over Australian ninth seed Aleksandar Vukic. World No. 42 Baez, who is playing his first event of the North American hard-court swing and first since winning the Kitzbuehel title on clay, next faces the winner of 2022 finalist Laslo Djere and 18-year-old American Alex Michelsen.
Cincinnati quarter-finalist Max Purcell finds himself in the last eight for the second consecutive week after upsetting second seed Tallon Griekspoor 7-6(4), 7-6(2). The Australian began the year at No. 220 but has ridden his serve/volley game to No. 43 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings and to within one win of cracking the Top 40.
“The courts are quite fast so it’s helping me with my aggressive tennis, coming forward to the net,” Purcell said. “It’s been hard to keep the ball in the court with the lively conditions and I feel I’ve done a good job on return to make them play that one extra ball. Trying to hold quickly and then straight away put pressure on them to hold their serve is working in my favour.”