Goffin advances, Monfils punishes himself by practicing more

Scheduled for Thursday were four eighth-finals matches and an appearance of the three big stars of the tournament in Umag. The first to go out onto the court was the 2016 winner Fabio Fognini. He kicked off his tenth consecutive appearance in Umag (he debuted back in 2008) and defense of the “king of Umag” title with a win over Nicolas Kicker, but with a lost set. The third-seed booked his place in the quarterfinal by winning for the 20th time this season. On a separate note, this is his third appearance here since he has become a father.

Last year’s finalist Andrej Martin was halted a bit earlier this year. He played against Andrey Rublev, a young and talented Russian who had entered the tournament at the very last moment, as the lucky loser, instead of our Borna Ćorić. It was a fantastic match that the Slovak and the Russian had played at the Next Gen Arena, and each player had come with their own supporters.