Gijs Brouwer has not succeeded in continuing his fairy tale at the ATP tournament in Houston. The 26-year-old debutant lost in the quarterfinals to American Reilly Opelka: 6-3, 7-5. At the ATP tournament in Marrakech, Botic van de Zandschulp was also eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Last week, Brouwer turned out to be a real sensation on the gravel of his hometown of Houston. The number 361 in the world came through the qualifying rounds and therefore played a tournament at the highest level for the first time in his career.
In the first round of the main tournament, Brouwer got rid of the much higher ranked Spaniard Feliciano López in straight sets: 6-4, 6-2. In the eighth finals, he beat American Jeffrey John Wolf 6-1, 6-1. His compatriot Opelka, the number 18 in the ATP ranking, turned out to be a size too big on Friday.
One break cost Brouwer the first set against Opelka. In the second company, the Dutchman still had a break, but he immediately gave up that margin. At 5-5, Brouwer lost his serve on the third breakpoint against. The American then finished it on his own service.
Strong start Van de Zandschulp
Van de Zandschulp started his quarterfinal match convincingly against Slovakian Alex Molcan. The Dutchman, who rose to place 43 in the world ranking due to strong performances last year, still won the first set. After that, things went better for Molcan (ATP-65): 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
In the eighth finals of the clay tournament in Marrakech, Morocco, Van de Zandschulp had settled 6-2, 6-4 with the Czech qualifier Vit Kopriva. In a tense match, the Dutchman defeated the Bolovian Hugo Dellien 6-3, 3-6, 6.4.
For Van de Zandschulp it was his second quarterfinal place at an ATP tournament this year. At the beginning of January, he reached the quarter-finals of the Melbourne ATP tournament. Last season, Van de Zandschulp surprised friend and foe by reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open.
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