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No.11 seed John Millman has scored a morale-boosting win over No.8 seed Reilly Opelka to reach the quarter-finals of the Citi Open in Washington.
Australia's John Millman has fought his way through to the quarter-finals of the Citi Open in Washington after an impressive straight-sets win over No.8 seed Reilly Opelka.
Millman beat the American 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in a morale-boosting victory with the US Open only a few weeks away.
The 32-year-old from Brisbane, who is in the bottom half of the draw, will meet American Jenson Brooksby after he upset Canadian No.2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3 6-4.
"He's going to be dangerous in the future," said Auger-Aliassime, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist last month.
No.11 seed Millman had to endure 19 aces from Opelka but more importantly converted two of his four break points for the win.
Joining Millman in the last eight are Steve Johnson, Denis Kudla, Jannik Sinner, Kei Nishikori, Mackenzie McDonald and No.14 seed Lloyd Harris.
South African Harris upset top-seed Rafael Nadal 6-4 1-6 6-4, with the 20-time grand slam winner showing signs of rust after only just returning from injury.
Japan's Nishikori eliminated No.7 seed Cameron Norrie 3-6 6-3 6-3 while McDonald accounted for Ilya Ivashka 6-4 6-4.
American Kudla defeated countryman Brandon Nakashima 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4, Johnson won 6-2 6-1 against Ricardas Berankis while Italian No.5 seed Sinner beat rising star Sebastian Korda 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-3).
Korda and Sinner had never played against each other - or even practised together - until this week.
"Very similar game style," Sinner said of the duo.
He trailed 5-2 in the second set before coming back.
"He was playing better. ... I tried to find a solution as soon as possible," Sinner said.
Korda's father won the 1998 Australian Open, his mother was ranked in the top 30 and his two sisters are golf stars, including world No.1 Nelly, who shot a 62 on Thursday to take the lead in that sport at the Tokyo Olympics.
Meanwhile, Australia's Storm Saunders and Ajla Tomljanovic have made early exits from the Thoreau Open and Silicon Valley Classic respectively.
No.9 seed Sanders was beaten by Poland's Magdalena Frech 6-3 6-2 while No.8 seed Yulia Putintseva defeated Tomljanovic 3-6 7-5 6-3.
