#NextGenATP Michelsen advances to Tokyo QFs

Will #NextGenATP star Alex Michelsen add a maiden title to his breakthrough season on the ATP Tour?

The 20-year-old advanced past Christopher O’Connell 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday to reach the quarter-finals at the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo.

The qualifier, who rallied to upset fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the opening round, struck 23 winners to dismantle O’Connell in one hour and 19 minutes. The No. 49 player in the PIF ATP Rankings also saved all three break points he faced to progress to his second ATP 500 quarter-final of the season (Washington).

“The quality of these matches was good, getting my rhythm here. I feel like I’ve been attacking really well, coming to the net a lot, especially today,” Michelsen said in his post-match interview, “I felt like I served really well and won a lot of points on that and that’s what I’ve been working on, so I’m super happy with that.

“I’m only going to play a couple more tournaments this year. I’m feeling really good to be honest, [I’m] going to finish the year strong.”

Tenacity ?

Alex Michelsen is in his 8th ATP QF following a 6-1 6-4 win over O'Connell in Tokyo!@japanopentennis | #kinoshitajotennis pic.twitter.com/zr3ZPfPvgJ

Michelsen’s success this season has been underlined by reaching the final in both Newport and Winston-Salem, placing him second in the PIF ATP Live Race to Jeddah. The American will next face Tomas Machac, who rallied to overcome fifth seed Tommy Paul 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head encounter.

The Czech clawed back from 0-3 down in the deciding set to close out the match in two hours, 35 minutes. He hit 33 winners, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to surge to a sixth ATP Tour quarter-final of the season.

“You never know, but in these conditions against this kind of player, it’s tough to believe when you’re losing in the first set and in the beginning of the second set,” Machac said after the match. “I just started to play much better in the second set than the first set, it was unbelievable from my side.

“I just tried to fight for every ball and I just tried to hope for victory.”

Paul, who was the highest ranked player left in the draw, suffered a blow to his Nitto ATP Finals qualification hopes. The American currently sits 11th in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, 520 points shy of eighth place.