South Korean Soonwoo Kwon earned one of the biggest wins of his career on Wednesday evening at the New York Open, battling past former World No. 3 Milos Raonic in three tight sets.

“I had experience against Khachanov and good players, so I was a little bit nervous,” Kwon said about facing Raonic. “But I got many experiences from last year and this year, so it was good. I’m really happy for that.”

Little did the Long Island crowd know how much it took — literally and figuratively — to get there.

First, the literal: Kwon lost last Friday in the quarter-finals of the Tata Open Maharashtra more than 12,000 kilometres away. It took the 22-year-old 30 hours to make the journey to New York via Seoul, South Korea.

“I keep thinking positive. I’m still young, so the time difference doesn’t matter, 30 hours flight,” Kwon said, cracking a laugh. “Yesterday I played a little bit tired against [Go] Soeda, but finally I won, which gave me more confidence.”

Kwon was in control of his first-round match against Soeda, leading by a set and a break. But he remained calm, and triumphed in a deciding set against the Japanese. Kwon also had an opportunity to close out Raonic in straight sets. Once again, instead of getting overly frustrated, he reset, maintained his composure and ousted the second seed.

“Two years ago he always rushed and and easily got angry on court,” said Kyu Tae Im, Kwon’s coach. “But I didn’t push him that much. I was just trying to listen to him about it, then gave him time to change his mind.”

Raonic crushed 33 aces from 96 service points. So more than one third of the Canadian’s service points resulted in a ball whizzing by the South Korean.

“Before the match we made plan for when he returns, because he has a really good serve,” Im said. “Doesn’t matter [if he hits] 30 aces, 40 aces.”

Im, who watched how Djokovic played Raonic at the Australian Open, wanted Kwon to stick to the game plan: make a lot of his first serves and to work the point from the baseline to try to tire out Raonic so that the Canadian would make fewer first serves. This way, the longer the match went on, the better Kwon’s chances to work his way into return points. Then, he would methodically use his forehand to earn a short ball and move into net to finish off points.

“Kwon is a really smart boy. When we make a plan before the match, he uses all of things during the match. Win or lose, it doesn’t matter,” Im said. “I think this shows big trust in each other.”

One year ago, Kwon was No. 235 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. The first week of March, he won his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Yokohama, Japan. Then he began working with Im, and he has been on the rise ever since. Kwon has earned his first eight ATP Tour wins in the past seven months, defeating the likes of former Top 10 players Richard Gasquet and Lucas Pouille.

Kwon has also pushed seeded players Karen Khachanov and Nikoloz Basilashvili at last year’s Wimbledon and this year’s Australian Open, respectively. So although he didn’t break through in those moments, he was increasingly gaining confidence.

“He had a good talent and potential, but nobody else gave confidence to him,” Im said of when they started their relationship. “They just spoke to him about his weak points. For me, I tried to keep talking with him about his tennis and how he has good groundstrokes, especially being aggressive his forehand. So I tried to, in practice, use his forehand a lot, and also mentally for him to keep staying calm, too.

“When he practises on the tennis court he is always trying to focus on his exercise and using all his energy on court. I think that is his biggest weapon.”

The World No. 84 is putting himself in winning positions. And with confidence, a strong baseline game and a willingness to move forward, Kwon is finding ways to take advantage of those situations.

“It wasn’t that I played poorly,” Raonic said. “I thought he played really well.”

Kwon is into his third ATP Tour quarter-final, and his upset of Raonic gives him an opportunity to face eighth seed Kyle Edmund for a spot in his first tour-level semi-final.

Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov edged their way into the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament semi-finals on Thursday with a 6-2, 3-6, 10-7 victory over fourth seeds and 2015 champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in 74 minutes. Bopanna and Shapovalov, who reached their first ATP Tour final in June last year at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart (l. to Peers/Soares), await the winners of Henri Kontinen and Jan-Lennard Struff versus Jamie Murray and Ken Skupski.

Elsewhere, Raven Klaasen and Oliver Marach also came through a tight encounter, 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-8, over Felix Auger-Aliassime and Hubert Hurkacz in one hour and 43 minutes. They now challenge second seeds and 2018 champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, who advanced to the semi-finals when Fabio Fognini, partnering Robin Haase, pulled out with a left leg injury.

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Aljaz Bedene recorded just the second Top 10 victory of his career on Thursday at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. The Slovenian held firm on serve in the first set en route to overcoming World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 6-4 in one hour and 33 minutes for a place in the quarter-finals. He’ll now meet Felix Auger-Aliassime for the first time.

Bedene saved five break points in the first set – two in his first service game and three at 3-4 – before winning the final 11 points to take the 53-minute opener. Second seed Tsitsipas unravelled after leading 5-4, with Bedene at 15/30 on his serve, and was broken to love at 5-5 when he struck a forehand wide.

Bedene gained a second service break at 1-1 in the second set, when a crosscourt forehand hit the net and bounced over Tsitsipas, who was en route to the net. World No. 52 Bedene closed out with a brilliant forehand down the line – his 20th winner of the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting.

Tsitsipas, who recovered from a set and break down against Hubert Hurkacz in the first round, drops to a 3-4 record on the season. Bedene beat his first Top 10 player in May 2018 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (d. No. 7 Kevin Anderson)

Jannik Sinner struck 27 winners and closed out his first Top 10 victory in style on Thursday at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. The 18-year-old wild card overcame World No. 10 and 2017 runner-up David Goffin 7-6(7), 7-5 and will next play Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain in the quarter-finals at the Rotterdam Ahoy.

“I feel great, especially now in this moment,” said Sinner. “It was not easy playing against him. He is very solid, so you sometimes go for a winner, or change the rhythm. It feels like a normal victory, [but] sometimes you play [matches] better than others. It’s all about improving and testing where you are [as a player].”

Sinner clinched the first set, which lasted 68 minutes, with a forehand — his 15th winner — on his fifth set point in the tie-break. The pair had exchanged service breaks at the start of the match. Fourth seed Goffin took a 2-0 lead in the second set, but 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion Sinner recovered with his solid groundstrokes and broke for a 6-5 lead when Goffin hit his seventh double fault.

Looking ahead to his next opponent, Sinner said: “[Pablo’s] very difficult, but I need to learn more about him. It won’t be an easy match, as he won against Bautista Agut, who is a very solid player.”

Awaiting Sinner in the next round is Serbian Filip Krajinovic, who withstood three set points and an inspired effort from Canadian Vasek Pospisil to advance 6-4, 7-6(7).

It appeared that Krajinovic would secure a comfortable win after holding match point on his serve at 5-4 in the second set, but a cramping Pospisil shockingly erased it with a backhand return winner. The qualifier then fought off two more match points before bringing the crowd to its feet after securing a break to level the match.

Gets cramp.
Hits a ridiculous return winner on match point.

Serious fight from @VasekPospisil ?

?: @TennisTV | @abnamrowtt pic.twitter.com/n4m9vIGlrN

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 13, 2020

Krajinovic erased a set point on his serve at 5-6 and fittingly forced a tie-break. The Canadian cracked a backhand return winner at 5/5 to earn another set point, but couldn’t convert and floated a slice backhand well long. Another set point for Pospisil came and went at 7/6 before the 27-year-old Serbian made good on his fourth match point after one hour and 56 minutes.

Elsewhere, Andrey Rublev extended his excellent start to the 2020 ATP Tour season by recording his 13th win in 14 matches. The seventh-seeded Russian improved to 3-0 in his ATP Head2Head against Alexander Bublik with a 7-5, 6-3 win over 80 minutes, which included winning five straight games from 4-5 in the first set to a 2-0 lead in the second set.

Last month, Rublev won back-to-back ATP Tour titles at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open (d. Moutet) and at the Adelaide International (d. Harris). He awaits the winner of Vasek Pospisil, victor over top seed Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday, or Filip Krajinovic.

Dusan Lajovic proved on Wednesday at the Argentina Open that he can never be counted out. The third-seeded Serbian erased two set points in the opening set and three more in the second set before defeating Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez 7-6(6), 7-6(6) to reach the quarter-finals in Buenos Aires.

Lajovic fought back from 4/6 in the first-set tie-break and erased three set points on his serve at 5-6 in the second set, two of which were removed by clean winners. The 29-year-old also clawed back from 1/5 in the second-set tie-break before advancing in two hours and eight minutes.

The Serbian improved to 7-3 this year. Lajovic helped guide Serbia to the title last month at the inaugural ATP Cup (d. Spain) and advanced to the third round at the Australian Open. He currently sits at a career-high FedEx ATP Ranking of No. 23.

Awaiting him in the next round is eighth seed Casper Ruud, who ruthlessly dismissed Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena 6-1, 6-0 in 58 minutes. The Norwegian launched winners from all parts of the court and was particularly potent in return games, winning 24 of 39 return points to break Carballes Baena five times.

Pedro Sousa snuck into the main draw as a lucky loser when Cristian Garin withdrew, but the 31-year-old Portuguese is making the most of his opportunity. He defeated Slovakian qualifier Jozef Kovalik 7-6(3), 7-6(5) for his first ATP Tour quarter-final. Sousa will face the winner of fourth-seeded Croatian Borna Coric and Brazilian Thiago Monteiro.

Miomir Kecmanovic prevailed in a battle of youth against experience on Wednesday at the New York Open. The sixth seed and #NextGenATP Serbian eased past 38-year-old Italian qualifier Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-3 to book his place in the quarter-finals.

Kecmanovic broke Lorenzi four times and won 81 per cent (21/26) of his first-serve points to advance in 74 minutes. The 20-year-old reached the semi-finals last month in Doha and is now 5-2 this season.

He awaits the winner of fourth-seeded Frenchman Ugo Humbert and American Marcos Giron. Kemanovic leads Humbert 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, scoring second-round victories last year in Antalya and Atlanta.

Italian Andreas Seppi defeated American Steve Johnson 7-6(4), 6-3 to move into the last eight. Seppi fought back from 3-5 in the first set and went on a seven-game run en route to his first quarter-final of the year. The 35-year-old ended last season with a Top 10 victory over Karen Khachanov to reach the semi-finals in Moscow.

Next up for Seppi is top-seeded American John Isner or Aussie Jordan Thompson. He trails Isner 1-3 in their ATP Head2Head series and leads Thompson 2-0.

Second-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic kicks off his week by headlining the night session against South Korean Soonwoo Kwon.

Felix Auger-Aliassime delivered his best tennis to a packed crowd on Wednesday at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, producing a reel of flashy winners during his 6-4, 6-2 victory over Grigor Dimitrov to reach the quarter-finals in Rotterdam.

“It was for sure the best match I’ve played so far this year. It was so complete from start to finish,” Auger-Aliassime said. “It was an almost perfect match. To dictate most of the points, serve well and return well, I’m very happy.”

Auger-Aliassime stood well inside the baseline to crack deep returns, immediately putting Dimitrov on defence in his service games. After trading early breaks in the opening set, a big backhand return at 3-3 gave the #NextGenATP Canadian another break and swung the momentum firmly in his favour. Hitting big first serves to set up one-two punches with his forehand, Auger-Aliassime rode his slight lead to an early advantage.

The 19-year-old brought the crowd to its feet by taking the best point of the day in the second set. With Dimitrov serving at 30/0 in the opening game, acrobatic volleys from both men eventually led to a drop volley winner from Auger-Aliassime that brought a smile to his face.

Just so good ?

What a point this is from @felixtennis & @GrigorDimitrov!

?:@TennisTV | @abnamrowtt pic.twitter.com/YMJRpjkoco

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 12, 2020

He continued to ride the momentum by lacing a backhand passing shot to break Dimitrov for a 2-1 lead in the second set. Auger-Aliassime then broke the Bulgarian to love at 4-2 and comfortably served out the match after 78 minutes. The Canadian improved to 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series.

Felix is firing in Rotterdam! ?

With shots like this, @felixtennis moves into the quarters with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Dimitrov ? #abnamrowtt

?: @TennisTV pic.twitter.com/v7pGqslh8t

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 12, 2020

Awaiting him in the next round is second-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas or Slovenian Aljaz Bedene. Auger-Aliassime leads his ATP Head2Head series with Tsitsipas 2-1, but lost their most recent clash last October in Shanghai.