Seeded No. 6 in Tokyo, Holger Rune qualified for the quarter-finals by defeating the Japanese Nishihoka. On the other hand, Tommy Paul, seeded n°5, fell against the Czech Machac.
Of the eight seeds who started the ATP 500 tournament in Tokyo in midweek, only two will compete in the quarter-finals: Ben Shelton (No. 8), who will challenge Arthur Fils on Sunday, and Holger Rune (No. 6) . The Dane, eliminated as soon as he entered the competition at the US Open and in Hangzhou, while he remained in a good semi-final in Cincinnati, finally managed to string together two victories, beating Yoshihito Nishioka (59th) this Saturday. Faced with this Japanese whom he faced for the third time (a victory everywhere),
the world No. 14 won with a score of 6-2, 6-4 in 1h074, at the end of a rather solid match, despite a slight drop in speed at the end. Holger Rune was particularly solid on serve, with 11 aces on 79% of first serves. His first set was almost perfect in this regard, with only two points lost on his put in play, and two successful breaks at 1-1 and 3-1 against a Nishioka completely overwhelmed by events. Holger Rune started at the same pace in the second set, with only one point lost in his first three service games and a break at 1-1.
At 4-3 in his favor, he had the match perfectly in hand, but he missed his service game and allowed the Japanese to equalize at 4-4. However, Nishioka failed to take advantage of this gift offered on a board, getting a blank on the following game! At 5-4, Rune found himself trailing 0-30, but the Japanese missed two easy shots and the Dane finally won the match on his first opportunity at 40-30. He will meet another Japanese, Kei Nishikori, in the quarters.
Machac offers himself Paul
Seeded No. 5 in the Japanese capital, Tommy Paul will not see the quarter-finals. The American was eliminated by Tomas Machac (34th) with a score of 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 in 2h36 after a match with seven breaks. The 13th in the world easily won the first set by breaking at 2-2 and 4-2. But the Czech reacted and won the second by taking the opposing service at 2-1 then 3-2. It is the third set which will give the most regrets to Paul, who led 3-0. But Machac equalized at 3-3 and finally won in the tie-break, with a score of 7-4.
He will face another American in the next round, Alex Michelsen.
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