Tennis: Tommy Paul stuns Mackenzie McDonald, Ruud falls in pre-quarters of Japan Open

Tokyo, Oct 18 (IANS) American tennis player Tommy Paul overcame compatriot Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-2 at the Japan Open ATP 500 event on Wednesday to reach his ninth quarterfinal of the season and sixth on hard courts.

This was Pual's 39th win of the season which also boosted his ATP Finals qualification hopes.

The 26-year-old American was strong on serve throughout the 86-minute clash, winning 21 of 22 points behind his first delivery. The fifth seed did not face a break point and showed his athleticism by winning a series of lung-busting rallies where both pulled each other from corner to corner, ATP Tour reports.

Vying for his first title of the season, Paul takes on Ben Shelton or Jordan Thompson in the quarter-finals. He is sitting 12th in the ATP Live Race To Turin, 515 points behind Holger Rune.

If Paul wins his second tour-level trophy, he could rise to ninth if his direct rivals fall early in Tokyo.

One of those rivals, Casper Ruud, lost on Wednesday in Japan. The Norwegian is 10th in the ATP Live Race, 220 points ahead of Paul.

That gap will not grow any further this week, though, after Marcos Giron defeated the second seed 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 21 minutes to set a quarterfinal clash against Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Giron rallied from 2-4 in the second set, rolling off the final four games to improve to 1-1 in his Lexus ATP Head-to-Head series against Ruud.

Giron has earned three Top 10 wins, having defeated then-World No. 6 Rune in August and then-World No. 10 Matteo Berrettini in 2020.

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