China’s Buyunchaokete upset top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in convincing 6-3, 6-2 fashion Tuesday at the Winston-Salem Open to notch a career-best 10th tour-level victory in a season.
Buyunchaokete never wavered from his relentless firepower, which left World No. 28 Tsitsipas seemingly out of answers and spiraling towards his fifth loss in his past six matches. Tsitsipas committed 33 unforced errors, compared to Buyunchaokete's 11.
“It gives you a lot of confidence when you take out a big seed in the draw, so I just tried to enjoy my level here," said Buyunchaokete, who ended his 16-match skid against Top 50 opponents. "It’s not easy to win two matches in a row in one tournament. I [haven't done] too much this year in the main draw."
At No. 76 in the PIF ATP Rankings, ‘Bu' found success by attacking Tsitipas’ serve. The Chinese player won 74 per cent of his second-serve return points (17/23), according to Infosys ATP Stats, and broke the former No. 3's serve five times across one hour, 28 minutes. ‘Bu’ next faces Mariano Navone, who raced past Marcos Giron 6-2, 6-2.
Lorenzo Sonego kickstarted his title defence by defeating American wild card Stefan Dostanic 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(3) in two hours and 53 minutes, converting his fourth match point in a nervy decider.
The 30-year-old Italian, who improved to 4-0 in Winston-Salem opening rounds, is this week aiming to become the second player to win multiple titles at the event after John Isner in 2011-12. He next faces Spain’s Jaume Munar.
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Second seed Tallon Griekspoor was also upset. Marton Fucsovics ousted the Dutchman 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to improve to 4-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series while third seed Luciano Darderi survived a scare against Mackenzie McDonald 7-6(5), 6-7(6), 6-4.
Frenchman Alexandre Muller ended the run of 17-year-old qualifier Darwin Blanch by rallying past the American 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-5. Muller’s countryman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard also escaped in three sets, earning a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) victory against Pedro Martinez.
