Uchiyama upsets Rune, advances to Hangzhou QFs

Japanese qualifier Yasutaka Uchiyama upset top seed Holger Rune 7-5, 6-4 on Saturday to advance to the quarter-finals at the Hangzhou Open.

The No. 160 in the PIF ATP Rankings won 77 per cent of his first-serve points to record the joint biggest win of his career, after his victory over World No. 14 Kyle Edmund at Brisbane in 2019. The 32-year-old Uchiyama also saved two of the four break points that he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to close out the match in one hour, 40 minutes.

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Qualifier @yasutaka0805 downs top seed Rune 7-5 6-4!@HangzhouOpen | #HangzhouOpen pic.twitter.com/bIY092bOe6

“I’m very excited, I’m happy with my performance today,” Uchiyama said after the match. “I couldn’t imagine winning in two sets, I was just thinking about my performance, I had to play 100 per cent the whole match to get the chance to beat him, so it went well for me today”.

Uchiyama will compete in the third ATP Tour quarter-final of his career, in which he will face wild card Marin Cilic.

Former US Open champion Cilic eased past Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4, 6-1 Saturday to seal his place in the quarter-finals in Hangzhou.

The former No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings struck 32 winners to take his Lexus ATP Head2Head record against the eighth seed to 2-0. The Croatian wild card also converted four of his six break point chances as he wrapped the match in just 69 minutes.

“It was a really good match even though I was a break down in the first set at 4-3,” Cilic said after the match. “Sometimes you have to wait for the right moments to get your game together, when everything clicks and luckily I made that break to come back and win the first set and then everything started to fall into place so definitely extremely pleased with the level.

“I know what my level can be and when I’m getting to the level where I’m close to my best. I try to stay there as much as I can, try to push myself and get as many points as I can to try to play well.”

Cilic achieved consecutive ATP Tour wins for the first time since reaching the 2022 Tel Aviv final.

Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena rallied to defeat lucky loser Mitchell Krueger 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The 31-year-old won 76 per cent of his first-serve points to close out the match in two hours, 30 minutes. The No. 55 in the PIF ATP Rankings extended his winning streak to seven matches at all levels after capturing a Challenger title in Seville last month.