By Tennis Now | Wednesday, July 19, 2017
World No. 100 Henri Laaksonen swept third-seeded Pablo Cuevas and Andrey Kuznetsov toppled top-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta in Bastad.
Photo credit: Skistar Swedish Open Facebook
Sporting legends Ingemar Stenmark and Björn Borg visited Bastad today as several players—including Tommy Haas— took part skiing the Skistar Swedish Open portable course in celebration of the tournament’s 70th anniversary.
Meanwhile, the second round was a slippery slope for a pair of high seeds who slid out of the tournament.
Watch: Brown's Bastad Adventure
Staring down a one-set, 3-5, deficit, Andrey Kuznetsov came back strong toppling the top seed.
The 88th-ranked Russian led Pablo Carreno Busta, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 3-0 when the top-seeded Spaniard retired due to a strained abdominal.
The Roland Garros quarterfinalist missed the entire grass-court season suffering a left abdominal muscle fracture.
It was Kuznetsov’s third win over Carreno Busta in four career meetings, including a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 comeback victory in the Sydney quarterfinals in January.
Kuznetsov converted three of 17 break points setting up a quarterfinal clash with Diego Schwartzman.
In an all-Argentine meeting, Schwartzman broke serve five times in a 6-4, 6-1 sweep of Renzo Olivo. The 38th-ranked Schwartzman advanced to his fifth quarterfinal of the season—all on clay—raising his 2017 clay-court record to 15-10.
World No. 100 Henri Laaksonen rallied to win 10 of the last 13 games upsetting third-seeded Pablo Cuevas, 6-4, 6-3, to advance to his first quarterfinal of the season.
The Swiss No. 3 behind Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, Laaksonen won 70 percent of his first-serve points and hit six aces toppling the 2014 Bastad champion.
The 25-year-old Laaksonen will face eighth-seeded David Ferrer in the quarterfinals.
Two-time former champion Ferrer defeated Dustin Brown, 6-2, 6-3 in 55 minutes. It was Ferrer's fifth win over Brown in as many meetings.
Ferrer converted all four break points raising his career record in Bastad to 23-7 in reaching his second quarterfinal of the season.