Goffin Advances In Montpellier

Belgium’s David Goffin booked his place in his first quarter-final of the 2018 ATP World Tour season at the Open Sud de France after beating Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday.

The match was dominated by the returner in the early stages, with seven breaks of serve in the opening set, before Goffin finally took advantage with timely first serves proving crucial to secure the first set.

From there, Goffin grew in confidence with a much improved serving performance and continued his assault on the Tata Open Maharashtra champion’s serve with two more service breaks before closing the match out with two aces and an unreturned serve to seal his spot in the last eight.

The World No. 7 awaits the winner of the second-round match between Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis and Russia’s Karen Khachanov, who are scheduled to play on Thursday.

Three-time former champion Richard Gasquet wasted no time in advancing to the second round, needing just 56 minutes to beat Sydney International champion Daniil Medvedev 6-0, 6-3. Gasquet broke the Russian on five occasions and lost just three points on his first serve in front of his home fans to book a meeting with compatriot Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

Herbert will be facing his second French opponent in as many rounds after battling past qualifier Kenny De Schepper 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-4. In a match with just three breaks of serve, the 26-year-old broke at the perfect time as De Schepper served to stay in the match at 4-5 in the decider.

Watch Live On TennisTV

Watch Full Match Replays

Andrey Rublev took 61 minutes to secure his spot his spot in the quarter-finals. The #NextGenATP contender dropped just three games to beat France’s Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 6-1. The 20-year-old saved all three break points on his serve and coverted four of five opportunities created on his opponent’s delivery.

Rublev will meet the winner of the all-French encounter between Nicolas Mahut and No. 3 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Mahut advanced to the second round in unfortunate fashion, after Germany’s Dustin Brown was forced to retire, due to a back injury, just one game from victory at 7-6(2) 5-2.

Australia’s John Millman came from a set down to beat Japan’s Yuichi Sugita 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. The No. 107 lost just one point behind his first serve in the third set to set up a meeting with home favourite Benoit Paire.

Ruben Bemelmans also advanced in southern France with a rapid, 49-minute, 6-1, 6-2 victory over French wild card Calvin Hemery.