Murray and Tsitsipas advance to quarter finals

The two-times Wimbledon champion outlasts Kazak Bublik after saving set points. Otte surprises by defeating favorite Denis Shapovalov in two close sets. Struff eliminated.

Thursday at the BOSS OPEN was everything the line-up promised: two Germans and nearly all of the superstars saw action on the Center Court.

Oscar Otte, currently number 61 in the world. amazed his home crowd with an entertaining 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) win over Denis Shapovalov (CAN/4). It was one of Otte’s biggest wins in his career so far and “an important step in the right direction.”

Jan-Lennard Struff wasn’t able to turn his match against Lorenzo Sonego (ITA/6), which had to be suspended on the day before with Sonego leading 7-6, 3-4. On Thursday, Sonego won three straight games to seal the victory 7-6 (2), 6-4.

Superstar Andy Murray was seemingly cruising to an easy win over number 7 seed Alexander Bublik (KAZ) after a 6-3 win in the first set. The Kazak, however managed to break Murray several times in the second, only to have the Brit battle back, save set points and win the match 6-3, 7-6 (5). “It’s nice to be back at this stage of such an event and have the opportunity to fight for the semis. Conditions were tricky today, as it was windy, but the wind was not consistent”, Murray said.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, the number 1 of the BOSS OPEN, thoroughly enjoyed his debut in Stuttgart. The Greek dominated Swiss qualifier Dominic Stricker from start to finish, eliminating the youngster 6-3, 6-4 in just 70 minutes. Even a short rain delay at the beginning of the second set couldn’t stop Tsitsipas, who will face Andy Murray on Friday in a battle for a spot in the semis.

The tournament’s number 3, Hubert Hurkacz (POL), was ousted by Hungarian Marton Fucsovics in three sets. In the final match of the day, Nick Kyrgios beat Nikoloz Basilashvili 6:7 (4), 6:4, 6:3.