ATP roundup: Johnson, McDonald make Delray quarters

Reuters
Tennis - Australian Open - Second Round - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, January 16, 2019. Mackenzie McDonald of the U.S. reacts during the match against Croatia's Marin Cilic. REUTERS/Aly Song

Two Americans charged into the quarterfinals of the Delray Beach (Fla.) Open with straight-set wins Thursday. Fourth-seeded Steve Johnson defeated Italy's Paolo Lorenzi 7-5, 7-5, and Mackenzie McDonald beat Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5, 6-4. Moldova's Radu Albot endured a tougher second-round match, getting past Australia's Nick Krygios 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Johnson and Albot will meet in the quarterfinals. McDonald's quarterfinal foe will be top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, who defeated American Reilly Opelka 6-4, 6-4. Eighteen aces weren't enough for Opelka, who had his serve broken twice while never breaking del Potro's serve. The other Friday matches will see sixth-seeded Italian Andreas Seppi face off with British qualifier Daniel Evans, and eighth-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino take on second-seeded John Isner. Rio Open No seeds will take part in the quarterfinals at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after the last remaining seeded player fell in the second round. Norway's Casper Ruud knocked out fifth-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 despite serving nine double faults and just five aces. Ruud particularly struggled with his serve in the final set, putting just 48 percent of his first serves in play, but he closed out the win with a service break in the last game. Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas advanced with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Argentina's Federico Delbonis, and Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas got past Argentinian qualifier Juan Ignacio Londero 6-1, 6-4. Serbia's Laslo Djere topped Japan's Taro Daniel 6-4, 6-2. Open 13 Provence France's Ugo Humbert gave the home-nation fans a reason for enthusiasm with a 6-3, 6-3 upset of second-seeded Borna Coric of Croatia in Marseille. Humbert, ranked 75th in the world, saved both of the break points in the 1-hour, 21-minute match. Third-seeded David Goffin of Belgium defeated France's Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-3, but fifth-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain fell 6-4, 6-3 to Germany's Matthias Bachinger. Also moving into the quarterfinals were Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky and Russia's Andrey Rublev. --Field Level Media