Mallorca Championships: Hanfmann upsets Tsitsipas on grass for first top-5 win

SPAIN: Yannick Hanfmann continued his strong performance in the 2023 season as he claimed his first Top 5 victim, beating top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in three games in the pre-quarterfinals of the Mallorca Championships here.

The German player overcame defending champion Tsitsipas of Greece 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the grass-court ATP 250 event in Spain’s Balearic Islands for the biggest win of his career on Wednesday night. Hanfmann won 80 per cent (36/45) of points behind his first serve in a rock-solid performance to reach his first non-clay ATP Tour quarterfinal.

Hanfmann broke Tsitsipas’ serve in the opening game of the match and two more times in the deciding set to seal his victory. The 31-year-old, who broke into the Top 50 in the ATP Rankings on Monday, now holds a 16-9 record for 2023. He reached his maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal in May in Madrid, a run that included Top 10 victories against Taylor Fritz and Andrey Rublev.

In the quarter-finals on his Mallorca debut, Hanfmann will next take on home favourite Feliciano Lopez, who extended his run at the final event of his professional career with a 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-3 triumph against Jordan Thompson.

With his two-hour, six-minute victory, the 41-year-old Lopez became the oldest ATP Tour quarterfinalist since Jimmy Connors reached the last eight in Halle aged 42 in 1995.

Christopher Eubanks also upset a seeded opponent to reach his first tour-level quarterfinal on the grass in Mallorca. The American downed his countryman Ben Shelton 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(2) in the pair’s maiden ATP Tour meeting. Eubanks hit 40 winners to Shelton’s 30 for a hard-earned two-hour, 43-minute triumph.

The 27-year-old Eubanks will next face Arthur Rinderknech, after the lucky loser defeated his fellow Frenchman Constant Lestienne 6-3, 6-2.