By Mike McIntyre
The three ATP 250 level tournaments this week have reached their midway points as the quarterfinals are now set in Cordoba, Argentina, Montepellier, France and Sofia, Bulgaria. As is often the case early in the season there have been many of the top seeds falling by the wayside which has offered up some fortuitous opportunities for some players to gain some unexpected ranking points and prize money. It certainly makes it tricky if you're into sports betting, so let's take a look at the remaining eight players in each draw.
lIn total five of the eight players remaining in the draw are from the host nation which should give Argentinian fans a lot to get excited about. Guido Pella, Federico Delbonis, Juan Ignacio Londero, qualifier Pedro Cachin and No. 3 seed Diego Schwartman are all through to the quarterfinals. With the draw being the way it is, tournament organizers must be thrilled that there will be at least two semifinalists from Argentina.
No. 1 seed Fabio Fognini was his often enigmatic self as he was defeated for the first time in eight meetings by Aljaz Bedene by a score of 6-1, 6-4. The second seed was also defeated as up-and-coming Spaniard Jaume Munar beat French Open semifinalist Marco Cecchinato 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to advance.
Despite defending champion and No. 1 seed Lucas Pouille going down in the round of sixteen, there are still three Frenchmen left in the Open Sud de France draw. The Aussie Open semifinalist Pouille was taken out by Marcos Baghdatis, himself a finalist at the first Grand Slam of the year way back in 2006.
Jo Wilfried Tsonga beat fellow veteran Gilles Simon 6-2, 7-6(3) in what very well might be his last season on the ATP Tour. He'll next face compatriot and sixth seed Jeremy Chardy for a spot in the semifinals.
Another local hope will be in tough in the bottom half of the draw where Frenchman Pierre Hugues Herbert will play 19 year old Canadian Denis Shapovalov. Shapovalov is looking for his first ATP Tour title and the question is when, not if, that will happen. Already cracking the top 30 in the rankings, the young Canadian's development almost seems destined to enjoy his first tournament victory at some point this season.
One of France's hopes who is not advancing is the 8th seeded Benoit Paire who was soundly beaten by a resurgent Tomas Berdych 6-2, 6-0 in a match he will not soon forget. Berdych is my favourite to win the title based on his experience and fine form so far in 2019.
In the final tournament of the week, the trend of losing No. 1 seeds continued as young Russian talent Karen Kachanov was beaten by Italian Matteo Berrettini 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-4.
There will be two new players in the finals this year as the defending champion, World No. 99 Miza Basic lost his opening match to Martin Klizan, while finalist Marius Copil lost in the second round to Fernando Verdasco after taking out Stan Wawrinka in his first match.
No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas is still alive after a 7-6(5), 6-4 win against Jan-Lennard Struff. He'll next play the always entertaining Gael Monfils in a match that should give spectators their money's worth to say the least. Third seeded Daniil Medvedev is also in the bottom half and a match between he and Tsitsipas would be a great semifinal between two of the brightest rising stars on the men's tour.
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