Third seed Flavio Cobolli emerged victorious in his Almaty Open debut on Wednesday as he eased past Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 7-5 to end his brief losing streak on Tour.
After beating Andrey Rublev in Beijing, the Italian suffered back-to-back defeats, coming at the expense of Learner Tien at the ATP 500 and then Jaume Munar in Shanghai. However, he looked close to his best against Hijikata, hitting 21 winners and making just seven unforced errors to advance to the quarter-finals after 79 minutes.
Cobolli has had an excellent year, winning titles in Hamburg and Bucharest. The 23-year-old is currently ranked No. 22 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings but would return to the Top 20 with a title run in Almaty, where he will next face James Duckworth.
Australian qualifier Duckworth upset seventh seed and last year’s finalist Gabriel Diallo 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 6-4 for the biggest win of his season. According to Infosys ATP Stats, the world number 138 did not face a break point on his way to victory.
Earlier, Shintaro Mochizuki defeated Arthur Cazaux 6-4, 6-4 to earn his third tour-level victory of the season. The 22-year-old has risen three places to number 99 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings and hopes to break the Top 100 for the first time. He will next play fourth seed Luciano Darderi.
Alex Michelsen broke a five-match losing streak and reached the second round. The American, who had not won a match since Cincinnati in August, defeated Beibit Zhukayev 6-2, 6-3. Jan-Lennard Struff also advanced, clawing past Mackenzie McDonald 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. The German hit 25 winners to improve to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against the American. Struff will next face top seed and defending champion Karen Khachanov.
Frenchman Corentin Moutet eliminated home favorite Alexander Shevchenko 7-5, 6-3. Moutet was a semi-finalist in Hangzhou last month.
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