Fritz, Shang set Eastbourne QF showdown

#NextGenATP Shang Juncheng became the second Chinese male to reach a tour-level quarter-final on grass Wednesday at the Rothesay International.

The 19-year-old defeated Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 after saving four of the five break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats. Shang, who advanced through Eastbourne qualifying, overcame a nervy start, dropping serve in the opening game before finding greater consistency and using his tricky lefty game to advance.

"I don't think I changed much," Shang said of his comeback. "Emil is a very complete player. He can do anything on the court very solid. I just thought, 'If he plays better than me, this is it, I'm just going to keep playing my tennis'. It ended up working really well. Let's go step by step. After today's match, good recovery. I've played a couple days in a row."

Following his win, Shang moved one spot to third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah. The teen is aiming for his maiden trip to the 20-and-under Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, which runs from 18-22 December in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Shang is into his second tour-level quarter-final of this season (Hong Kong). He joins China's highest-ranked male Zhang Zhizhen as the only players from their country to reach the last eight at a grass-court ATP Tour event.

Shang will next face a first-time Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with two-time former champion Taylor Fritz, who produced a serving masterclass to defeat Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-6(4), 6-3. The top-seeded American fired 15 aces, put 81 per cent of first serves into play and dropped just five points in 11 service games.

"In the first set it gets tight and it can go either way when you get to a 'breaker, but I really didn't see any opportunities where I could have gotten a break; he was serving well... I just had to get through the tie-breaker, take care of my serve and wait for my chances,” Fritz said.

"Both years I won here (2019, 2022) I came into the tournament not having won matches, not having played well. I know no matter what I can come here and start feeling good. It gives me a lot of confidence. Winning two matches last week was my best result at Queen’s, but I wasn’t super happy with the last match I played, so I still want to play better.”

Also in Eastbourne, fellow qualifiers Yoshihito Nishioka and Max Purcell advanced to the quarter-finals. The Japanese lefty rallied past Marcos Giron 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-2 and Purcell beat Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 6-4. Miomir Kecmanovic cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 victory against Sebastian Baez and lucky loser Aleksandar Vukic defeated two-time quarter-finalist Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-4.

Home hope Billy Harris ousted countryman Charles Broom 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to reach his second consecutive quarter-final after last week's surprise run at The Queen's Club. Italian Flavio Cobolli was a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner against British lucky loser Giles Hussey.

[NEWSLETTER FORM]