Almaty Open: Vukic upsets defending champ Mannarino to reach quarter-finals

Australian Aleksandar Vukic moved into the last eight of the Almaty Open by beating defending champion Adrian Mannarino, the No 8 seed from France, 7-6 (4), 6-3 at Almaty Arena on Thursday.

With the win, Vukic levels the head-to-head between the two players at 2-2.

Vukic, ranked No 85, will face the winner of the match between American Frances Tiafoe, the top seed, and qualifier Dan Evans next. He is now through to his eighth quarter-final on the ATP Tour and also improves to 9-5 against higher-ranked players since June on the tour.

In the previous round of the tournament, the Australian won against countryman James Duckworth (6-4, 7-5).

Mannarino, ranked No 56, defeated Russian Roman Safiullin (5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-3) earlier in the week. The Frenchman’s struggles in 2024 continued with his latest loss, taking his record to 16 wins against 30 losses across all levels of the pro circuit this year.

Almaty ATP 250, other second-round matches (Almaty Arena, hard, USD 1,036,700):

• Karen Khachanov (3) beat Otto Virtanen: 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3)
• Beibit Zhukayev (WC) beat Tomas Machac (5): 3-1 ret.
• Alexander Shevchenko beat Aslan Karatsev (Q): 6-1, 6-7 (5), 7-5
• Alejandro Tabilo (2) beat Maximilian Marterer: 6-2, 6-4
• Gabriel Diallo beat Borna Coric: 7-6 (1), 6-4
• Francisco Cerundolo (4) beat Justin Engel (WC): 6-4, 7-6 (3)
• Frances Tiafoe vs. Daniel Evans