Australian lucky loser Aleksandar Vukic pulled off a 6-4, 6-4 upset of No. 3 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan on Wednesday in the second round of the Rothesay International in Eastbourne, England.
Vukic won 26 of 29 first-serve points and saved 3 of 3 break points to punch his ticket to the quarterfinals. Bublik lost despite racking up 12 aces.
Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka will face Vukic in the next round after rallying for a 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-2 victory over the United States’ Marcos Giron. Fellow qualifiers Max Purcell of Australia and Juncheng Shang of China also won their matches on Wednesday.
Other winners included top-seeded American Taylor Fritz, Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, Italy’s Flavio Cobolli and wild card Billy Harris of Great Britain.
Mallorca Championships
No. 1 seed Ben Shelton of the U.S. collected 13 aces and saved 6 of 6 break points to cruise to a 6-4, 6-0 win over Australian Rinky Hijikata in second-round action in Spain.
Shelton will collide with British qualifier Paul Jubb in the quarterfinals. Jubb also prevailed in straight sets on Wednesday, ousting qualifier Adam Walton of Australia, 6-0, 6-3.
Fourth-seeded Chilean Alejandro Tabilo topped Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko 6-3, 6-2, while Czech Jakub Mensik defeated Italian wild card Fabio Fognini 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the only match of the day that went three sets.
