Seeds swallowed as Irving tennis tournament continues upset spree

It was another tough day for seeded players at the Irving Tennis Classic after No. 4 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, No. 5 seed Borna Coric of Croatia and No. 8 seed Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei were knocked out of the ATP Challenger at the Four Seasons Resort and Club at Las Colinas.

A day after top seed and defending champion Marcel Grannollers of Spain lost in the first round, Frenchman Jermey Chardy, a former top 25 player who is ranked No. 80, knocked off Basilashvili 6-2, 6-1; Dustin Brown of Germany rallied to beat No. 59-ranked Coric 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, and Mikhail Kukushkin of Ukraine knocked off Lu 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

The only remaining seeded player in the tournament after Thursday’s second round was No. 3 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia, who knocked off Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Aljaz Bedene, of Great Britain, who won the Irving title in 2015, kept his chances of becoming the tournament’s first two-time champion alive with a 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1 victory over Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil.

In a meeting of young Americans, 20-year-old Jared Donaldson of Irvine, Calif., defeated 19-year-old Frances Tiafoe of Hyattsville, Md., 7-5, 1-6, 7-5.

Irving Tennis Classic

Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas, Irving.

Thursday’s results

SECOND-ROUND SINGLES

Jeremy Chardy, France, d. Nikoloz Basilashvili, Georgia, (4), 6-2, 6-1; Dustin Brown, Germany, d. Borna Coric, Croatia, (5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Andrey Rublev, Russia, (q) d. Benjamin Becker, Germany (wc), 6-2, 6-4; Karen Khachanov, Russia, (3) d. Lukas Lacko, Slovakia (alt.), 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; Tim Smyczek, U.S., (wc) d. Radu Albot, Moldovia 6-3, 6-3; Mikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan, d. Yen-Hsun Lu, Chinese Taipei (8), 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; Aljaz Bedene, Britain (alt) d. Thomaz Bellucci, Brazil 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1; Jared Donaldson, U.S. (alt) d. Frances Tiafoe, U.S. (alt), 7-5, 1-6, 7-5.

QUARTERFINAL DOUBLES

Santiago Gonzalez, Mexico, and Michael Venus, New Zealand, d. James Cerretani, U.S. and Nikola Mektic, Croatia, 6-4, 2-6, 10-8; Jeremy Chardy, France, and Robert Lindstedt, Sweden, d. Jonathan Erlich, Israel, and Scott Lipsky, U.S., 6-4, 7-6 (2); Marcus Daniell, New Zealand and Marcelo Demoliner, Brazil, vs. Purav Raja, India, and Divij Sharan, India, late.

This story was originally published March 16, 2017 at 11:46 PM with the headline "Seeds swallowed as Irving tennis tournament continues upset spree."