Xavier Malisse has qualified for the quarterfinals of the European Open. Together with Lloyd Harris, he won his first doubles match after some nice flashes of class. The duo will play again on Thursday afternoon (not before 4:30 pm). Vliegen and Gillé surprisingly went down in doubles, Sinner steams on.
Malisse and Harris faced Romain Arneodo and Matt Reid in the first round. In a Court 1 filled to the last seat, our countryman impressed with some nice points. Malisse showed some nice tennis, Harris brought out his serve cannon and together they won the first set: 6/4. Harris closed the set with two aces in a row. In the second set both pairs gave each other even less space. A tiebreak had to bring the decision and Malisse/Harris won with 7/6(4). And again the Belgian/South African duo played very well together. Thursday (not before 16:30) they are together again on Center Court.
Gillé and Vliegen opened on Centre Court against the Argentine Federico Delbonis and the Spaniard David Vega Hernandez. In the first set, the foursome kept each other in balance. The Belgian duo was able to push through in the last game and they took the first set: 7/5.
The second set was also evenly matched. In the ninth game the Belgians were broken and Delbonis and Vega Hernandez were allowed to serve for the set. The first set point was immediately the right one: 4/6. An exciting matchbreak had to decide about profit and loss. Vliegen got a first match point at 9/7, but hit a double fault. The Argentine/Spanish duo cleverly saved the second match point and then finished the job with 9/11.
Dusan Lajovic, who already knocked former champion Richard Gasquet out of this edition, played against Arthur Rinderknech. Rinderknech proved he was too strong for Lajovic today. He won with a score of 6/3 4/6 6/2.
The last but one match on Center Court was a battle between two young Italians. Jannik Sinner played against his compatriot Lorenzo Musetti. Sinner won the first set 7/5. He also showed his qualities in the second one and took the second set in this Italian clash. Sinner won 7/5 and 6/2.
