Roberto Carballés appears in CF for the fourth time in 2024 | ATP Tour

Hangzhou

Carballés appears at CF for the fourth time in 2024

Cilic also qualified for the quarterfinals in Hangzhou

September 21, 2024

Roberto Carballés Baena is having the best season of his career and his results confirm this. This Saturday at the Hangzhou Open he sealed his place in the quarter-finals of an ATP Tour tournament for the fourth time in 2024.

The Spaniard was able to come back from behind in the second round against the American lucky loser Mitchell Krueger by 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 30 minutes, which allowed him to make it into the top eight of the Chinese ATP 250.

This is the fourth time this season that he has made it to the quarter-finals, after doing so in Auckland, Marrakech – where he reached the final (l. to Matteo Berrettini) –, Bastad and Hangzhou. He has reached this round 21 times in total throughout his professional career.

In addition, the Granada native has a record of 22-20 games this season, which means that it is the first time that he has surpassed twenty victories in the same year. In both 2023 and 2019 he had come close to winning 19 games.

Carballés, who has now won seven matches in a row (between the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Tour), will face No. 6 seed Zhizhen Zhang or Mattia Bellucci in the quarter-finals in Hangzhou.

Marin Cilic, meanwhile, won back-to-back ATP Tour matches for the first time since September 2022, when he made it to the final in Tel Aviv. This time, on the Chinese hard court, he beat No. 8 seed Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and nine minutes.

The Croatian, who is playing in this ATP 250 thanks to a wild card, was impeccable on serve, with which he registered 15 aces and won 93% of points with first serves (26/28). He also raised his number of winners to 32 and successfully settled five net approaches, while converting 4 of the 6 break point opportunities he had on return.

Cilic, currently ranked No. 777 in the world, has already made 121 ATP Tour quarter-final appearances. Hangzhou is awaiting the winner of the duel between top seed Holger Rune and Japanese qualifier Yasutaka Uchiyama.

The first quarterfinal matchups were set on Friday, with No. 4 seed Brandon Nakashima taking on Australian Rinky Hijikata, while local wild card Bu Yunchaokete will try to advance to the semifinals against Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin.

Did you know that…?

Roberto Carballés Baena is closing in on his career-high ranking of No. 49 as of April 10, 2023, at No. 53 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. A title win at the Hangzhou Open could see him surpass his career-high of World No. 46.