The Barcelona Open has eliminated British No. 1 Cameron Norrie, while Dan Evans has advanced to the quarterfinals with a convincing victory against Karen Khachanov.
In his encounter against Lorenzo Musetti in the round of 16, seventh seed Norrie won the first set, but the Italian rebounded to win 3-6 6-4 6-1. British ranking two Evans defeated sixth-seeded Russian Khachanov 6-3 6-4 by breaking his service once in each set.
In the round of eight, he will face 15th-seeded Argentine Francisco Cerundolo. Cerundolo defeated Casper Ruud 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 to eliminate the third seed. Evans, 32, had recovered on clay after suffering a run of six straight losses following his third-round appearance at the Australian Open in January.
Despite falling in three sets at the Monte Carlo Masters last week, he advanced to the semi-finals in Marrakech at the beginning of April, and he has since had a successful run in Barcelona.
After taking the first set, Norrie, 27, went to 15-40 on Musetti’s serve at 4-4 in the second, but he wasted the break-point opportunities and had his own service broken in the following game. From there, the 21-year-old Italian easily won the decider.
Musetti, the 20th-ranked player in the world, defeated Novak Djokovic last week in Monte Carlo and has had his greatest career wins on a clay court so far.
Jannik Sinner, with whom he will face off on the court once more in Barcelona’s quarterfinals, put a stop to his winning streak. Sinner defeated 16th seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan in three sets, and second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas easily defeated Denis Shapovalov of Canada by scores of 6-3, 6-2.
Carlos Alcaraz, the second-ranked player in the world, defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 7-5. Meanwhile, Australian Christopher O’Connell, who is ranked 82 in the world, defeated Alexander Zverev 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 in the Bavarian International in Munich.
