Kokkinakis paid the price for putting just 55 per cent of first serves into play, a problem compounded by De Minaur dominating on second serve returns, winning 56 per cent of those points.ĭe Minaur went down an early break in the second set before upping his aggression. Two-time tournament champion Alex de Minaur improved to 10-1 at Atlantic Station after rallying from an early break down in the second set to defeat fellow Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3, 6-4 in a first-time meeting between the Australians. 82 Australian Aleksandar Vukic, who upset fourth seed Yoshihito Nishioka 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(3) in brutally hot conditions during the day session. He closed out the set in the next game and in the decider he fended off two break points in his opening service game before breaking to 15 in the 10th game.Įubanks, who hit 51 winners, is through to his second quarter-final in Atlanta and will next play World No. I went back to what I know, trust in myself, hit my spots and I came up with some big serves.," said Eubanks, who has won 11 of his past 12 matches, stretching back to his title run at the ATP 250 in Mallorca on grass.Įubanks fired 21 aces but had not earned a break point on Nakashima’s serve until the ninth game of the second set when he caught fire, breaking the 21-year-old to love, helped by one explosive 99 mph forehand winner. "I told myself it was the law of averages.
"I survived 15/40 earlier in the set and then in that final game Brandon came up with some good returns and the new balls got back on me pretty quickly.
"I like to think of myself as a server and servers make their name serving out sets, serving out matches and consolidating breaks," Eubanks said. With Nakashima adopting an aggressive service stance, the 21-year-old earned seven break points throughout the match - including three at 0/40 in the final game - but fifth-seeded Eubanks held firm each and every time en route to a 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5 win. Christopher Eubanks rode his towering serve to a come-from-behind victory over fellow American Brandon Nakashima to charge into the Atlanta Open quarter-finals Wednesday night.
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