It was a case of third time lucky for James Duckworth as the Australian romped into the quarterfinals of the Winston-Salem Open with a stirring victory over Lorenzo Sonego.<\/p>\n
The Italian has proved to be a bit of a nemesis on Tour for the Sydneysider, who had gone down twice in their previous meetings.<\/p>\n
Sonego first triumphed over Duckworth in 2021 at Wimbledon when he won 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round.<\/p>\n
Then came the defeat also on grass at Eastbourne International in the round of 32 in 2022 when Duckworth lost 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1).<\/p>\n
So the 7-5, 6-3 victory on Thursday (AEST) in the ATP-250 event would have been coupled with sweet revenge and a tinge of relief ahead of next week’s US Open at Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n
With his world ranking of 79, Duckworth has qualified directly into the main draw for the last grand slam of the year.<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old needed one hour and 44 minutes to dispatch Sonego, breaking serve twice in the match and fending off all three break point opportunities.<\/p>\n
Duckworth will now meet 15th seed Fabian Marozsan of Hungary, who beat American wildcard Martin Damm 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, for a place in the semifinals.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Rinky Hijikata’s bid to make the last eight came to a crashing halt when the Australian was defeated by Benjamin Bonzi.<\/p>\n
It was a bullseye performance from the Frenchman, who didn’t miss much in a 6-1, 6-1 demolition that lasted just 57 minutes.<\/p>\n
Bonzi won 96 per cent of points on first serve and converted five of seven break point opportunities.<\/p>\n
In other results, top British player and number four seed Arthur Fery made light work of qualifier Mees Rottgering to progress with a 6-3, 6-3 win.<\/p>\n
But the tournament is over for number seven seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was beaten 6-3, 7-6 (1) by American Aleksander Kovacevic.<\/p>\n
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