ATP Sofia: Day Four Recap

All the seeds progressed into the last eight on a serve-dominated day four at the Garanti Koza Sofia Open. Only two matches went the distance. In the doubles draw, the pairings were aiming to win their way into the semifinals.

Mannarino Gets The Better Of Qualifier Copil

Eighth seed Adrian Mannarino grinded out a victory over Marius Copil in a match which summed up Thursday's action. It was a match that lacked break points. As it turned out, the Frenchman only needed two breaks to secure victory, but was pushed all the way by the plucky qualifier from Romania.

The first set only featured one break of serve and it was Mannarino who took his only chance to edge the first 6-4. The second set was a tight affair, with neither player getting a look-in on their return games. That led to a tiebreak as Copil seized his opportunity and forced a deciding set to the delight of the crowd. Once again, only one break was enough for Mannarino, He he served out the win in just over two hours at 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3.

Muller Continues His Strong Serving Displays

Gilles Muller celebrates progressing to the final eight - Source: SofiaOpen.bg — Gilles Muller celebrates progressing to the final eight (Photo: Garanti Koza Sofia Open)

Gilles Muller was pushed hard by Ricardas Berankis in their second round clash today, but still prevailed in straight sets after hitting 19 aces. Both sets were very similar in the sense that neither player could get the break-through with the second requiring a tie-break, after Berankis was broken to love when serving for one set-all. Once again, it was another impressive serving display from Muller to finish the match. He also created 12 break points, but only took two of them to extend the match further.

Kohlschreiber Sees Off Dzumhur After A Strong Start

Kohlschreiber in action - Source: SofiaOpen.bg — Kohlschreiber in action (Photo: Garanti Koza Sofia Open)

Philipp Kohlschreiber finished off day four proceedings with a three-set win over Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had defeated Jiri Vesely in the best match on Tuesday. The 5th seeded German completely dominated the first set, winning it 6-1 after breaking the Dzumhur serve three times. Dzumhur won a marathon first game in the second set to break for the first time in the match, before saving five on his serve to take another match into a third set. Kohlschreiber upped his level once again, winning 20 of 26 service points in giving little hope to the diminutive Bosnian in the decider. The German went on to reach the quarterfinals with a 6-1 4-6 6-3 victory.

Other Thursday Results

The day started with Andreas Seppi cruising past Thiemo de Bakker 6-2, 6-1, extending his record in their head-to-head to 2-0. Top-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut was given a walkover from his opponent Filip Krajinovic. Daniel Brands was expected to give Viktor Troicki a run for his money, but the big-serving German could not apply any pressure in his return games,. Troicki won every point on his first serve.

The semifinal line-up was completed in the doubles draw with the last remaining seeds Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop through after defeating Lukas Dlouhy and Sergiy Stakhovsky in a champions tie-break.

Day Five Preview

It’s quarterfinals day in Sofia tomorrow with the all eight seeded players making the final eight. First up, Auckland champ Roberto Bautista Agut goes against Adrian Mannarino, before Muller is back in action against Gulliermo Garcia-Lopez. Muller looks to win his first ever encounter with the Spaniard. The final two singles matches are due to be played after the first doubles semifinal with Centre Court being the only court in action.