Tsitsipas struggles past stubborn Struff

Greek second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas had to fight hard before booking his place in the Sofia Open quarter-finals, securing a 7-6(5) 6-4 win over feisty German Jan-Lennard Struff on Thursday having enjoyed the backing of the Bulgarian crowd.

"For the first time I play as if I was at home," said 20-year-old Tsitsipas, who reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open last month.

"I felt confident and I hope I will continue to show a good performance. Struff played very well but I was lucky in some of the games and it helped me a lot."

Greece's emerging talent will meet experienced Frenchman Gael Monfils, who defeated Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin 7-5 6-3, in the quarter-finals on Friday.

Fernando Verdasco also secured his place in the quarter-finals with 6-2 4-6 6-1 win over Romanian Marius Copil.

Big-serving Copil, who reached the tournament's final...