Adrian Andreev reached the singles quarterfinals at the Challenger 50 tournament in Hersonissos, Greece. The Bulgarian defeated third seed Raul Brancaccio 7:6(6), 3:0, with the Italian retiring due to injury. The event is being played on hard courts and offers €56,700 in prize money.
Andreev was trailing 2:4 in the first set, but managed to level and take a 5:4 lead. At that score, he missed two set points on Brancaccio’s serve. The set went to a tiebreak, in which the Bulgarian also missed an opportunity at 6:5, but won the next two points to close out the set 8:6.
In the second set, Andreev broke twice to take a 3:0 lead. Brancaccio then ended his participation in the match. It was the Bulgarian’s fifth win at the tournament, following two victories in qualifying and two in the main draw. By reaching the quarterfinals, he earned 11 points for the world rankings, in which he is currently ranked 584th.
Andreev will face another Italian, Michele Ribecai, for a place in the semifinals. The match is scheduled for November 13. Ribecai reached the quarterfinals after defeating fellow Italian Carlo Alberto Canaiato.
Alex Ganchev is also continuing in the tournament. The Bulgarian and Luxembourg’s Sasha Maes defeated the top seeds, Romania’s Victor Cornea and Germany’s Kai Wenelt, 6:4, 6:2 in 77 minutes.
Ganchev and Maes fell 0:2 behind at the start, but won five consecutive games to turn the score around to 5:2 before closing out the first set 6:4. In the second set, the pair won four games in a row from 2:2 to take it 6:2.
In the semifinals, the Bulgarian and his Luxembourgish partner will face Italians Lorenzo Angelini and Carlo Alberto Canaiato. Ganchev has already secured 17 points for the doubles rankings, in which he is ranked 827th.