Quarter-final berth secured as Scot’s fine comeback continues

Andy Murray continued his return to top-level action by reaching the quarter-finals of the European Open in Antwerp with a straightsets victory over Pablo Cuevas.

The former world No 1, now ranked 243rd as he battles back from hip surgery, saw off the Uruguayan 6-4 6-3 in just under 84 minutes.

World No 45 Cuevas saved seven break points in the first set but was eventually undone in the 10th game and Murray claimed another decisive break in the ninth game of the second set.

Murray told the BBC: “I thought I served quite well for most of the match and, when I was able to get into the baseline rallies, I felt I was hitting the ball quite clean, which is good.

“He served very well, which made it difficult for me to get the breaks, but I thought for me it was a good match.”

Otherwise it was a day of surprises in Belgium as the top three all went out.

Top seed Gael Monfils of France was stunned 6-3 6-2 by Italian wildcard Jannik Sinner, while second seed David Goffin of Belgium went down 6-3 6-1 to Frenchman Ugo Humbert.

Murray’s next opponent was confirmed as Romanian qualifier Marius Copil beat third seed Diego Schwartzman 6-4 5-7 7-6.

The day’s other match saw American Frances Tiafoe beat seventh seed Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3 6-4.

Former world No 8 Janko Tipsarevic rolled back the years at the Instrum Stockholm Open by postponing his retirement with a brilliant 6-1 6-1 thrashing of top seed Fabio Fognini.

The 35-year-old Serbian, who is playing in his final ATP tournament, powered to victory in just 62 minutes over the world No 12.

There were also wins for fourth seed Denis Shapovalov and fifth seed Pablo Carreno Busta, over Alexei Popyrin and Gianluca Mager respectively.

Japanese lucky loser Yuichi Sugita also went through by beating Stefano Travaglia.

At the KTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow, sixth seed Andrey Rublev came through a two-anda-quarter-hour battle with Egor Gerasimov of Belarus to reach the last eight.

After the first two sets went to tie-breaks, Rublev eventually prevailed 7-6 6-7 6-2.

Frenchman Jeremy Chardy put out eighth seed Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3 6-4 and lucky loser Nikola Milojevic continued his run with a 7-5 6-0 victory over Alen Avidzba.