Virtanen will face Kazakhstan’s Denis Jevsejev in Friday’s quarterfinals.
7.11. 19:17•Updated 7.11. 19:39
The Finnish hope for the men’s tennis ATP challenger tournament to be played in Helsinki Otto Virtanen won Patrick Kaukovaltan on Thursday and advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals.
The Finnish encounter in the second round at the Tali tennis center ended in Virtanen’s favor 6–3, 6–2.
– Of course, it was not an easy match against a familiar friend. Pate knew what he wanted and could do, but I’m happy with the win. I returned really well today and I think that thanks to that, Pate didn’t get to use his biggest and best weapon, the pass, so much to his advantage, Virtanen said.
– Other than that, I struggled a bit in terms of play, but I don’t focus on that, because yesterday went well and now we’re looking towards the quarterfinals.
At the end of October, Virtase, 23, became the seventh Finn of all time among the top 100 men’s world rankings, and now he is already in the top 90 and the number one player in Finland.
On this week’s list, the top Finn was the 89th ranked Emil Ruusuvuoriwhich is currently on a competition break.
Virtanen will face the Kazakh in Friday’s quarterfinals Denis Yevseyevwho beat Virtanen in last year’s opening round of the challenger race in Helsinki. Yevseyev, 31, is ranked 218th in the world.
– In the spirit of revenge. Let’s make a better plan than last year, do things differently and hopefully it will be a good match, Virtanen said.
Edited at 19:23: Added Virtanen’s comments.