The quarter-finals remain, this year, a forbidden fruit for Romanians at the Concord Iași Open! For the fifth year in a row, the representatives of our country stopped in the round of 16 of the ATP Challenger 100 tournament at the Ciric Sports Base. After passing two seeds in the first round, Gabi Boitan and Cezar Crețu were eliminated, on Thursday, in the round of 16.
Gabi Boitan, celebrated on the field after the match
The celebrant of the day, Gabi Boitan (ranked 382 ATP), who turned 25 on Thursday, was defeated in the round of 16 by the Spaniard Martin Landaluce, 18 years old, world number 304, score 6-4, 6-3.
After the match, Boitan received a cake from the tournament director Andrei Pavel, and the spectators in the stands sang to our athlete "Long Live". Visibly emotional, Gabi Boitan declared at the end that it is the first time he is playing an official match on his birthday and he hopes that next year he will celebrate his day with success and a qualification.
The Romanian tennis player started his day with an emotional moment, his mother coming from Constanța to support him in the round of 16 match.
"I woke up with my mother at the hotel, at breakfast. It was a nice surprise and I thank him for coming to support me in Iași", said Boitan, who set out to be Romania's representative in the top 100 in the world as soon as possible.
Cezar Crețu, defeated in a minimum of sets by the Kazakh Popko. The Iesian got his revenge in doubles
After a great match in the first round with the Argentinian Burruchaga, the 4th favorite, Cezar Crețu from Iși, 23 years old, 376th ATP place, also stopped in the round of 16, being defeated by Dmitry Popko, from Kazakhstan (27 years old, world number 222 ), score 7-5, 6-3. Last week, Popko contested the final of the ATP Challenger 75 tournament in Brașov, being defeated by the Bolivian Murkel Dellien, 3-6, 5-7.
The Kazakh eliminated in Brașov, among others, Ștefan Paloși (in the round of 16) and Filip Jianu (in the quarterfinals). Crețu stopped in the quarters in Brașov, being eliminated by the Bosnian Nerman Fatic.
Another top seed eliminated in the round of 16. Only two favorites qualified for the quarters
After the surprising elimination of the main favorite Camilo Ugo Carabelli (Argentina), defeated on Wednesday evening by the French Valentin Royer, the first match played on Thursday, on the Central Court, provided another big surprise.
Paraguayan Adolfo Daniel Valejo, 20 years old, 289th ATP place, defeated the third favorite, Argentinean Juan Manuel Cerundolo, 22 years old, world number 139, in the round of 16, score 6-3, 6-3. He is the sixth favorite eliminated from the singles draw before the quarter-finals.
Instead, France's Enzo Couacaud, 29, ATP No. 195, seeded 8, qualified for the quarterfinals after defeating Czech Dalibor Svrcina, 21, world No. 255, 6-0, 5 -7, 6-2. Couacaud is in his fourth appearance in Iași, after failing to pass the first round in the previous three editions.
It should be noted that only two favorites remained on the board, the Bolivian Hugo Dellien (6) and the French Enzo Couacaud (8), the other six being eliminated: Ugo Camilo Carabelli (Argentina, 1), Albert Ramos Vinolas (Spain, 2), Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Argentina, 3), Roman Andres Burruchaga (Argentina, 4), Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (United States, 5) and Gustavo Heide (Brazil, 7).
Alexandru Jecan, Cezar Crețu and Bogdan Pavel, in the doubles semifinals
The four quarter-finals in doubles were also played yesterday. Alexandru Jecan qualified for the semifinals, together with the Polish Szymon Walkow, the two eliminating the main favorites, Luiz David Martinez (Venezuela) and Cristian Rodriguez (Colombia) in the quarters. Shortly after losing in the singles in the round of 16, Cezar Crețu returned to the field alongside Bogdan Pavel, the two obtaining a spectacular qualification in the semi-finals of the doubles event after a victory over the 2 favourites, Indians Anirudh Chandrasekar and Arjun Kadhe.
On Friday, July 12, the 4 singles quarter-final matches, as well as the two doubles semifinals, are scheduled.

The results recorded on Thursday, July 11:
Simple / Optimal
Adolfo Daniel Vallejo (Paraguay) - [3] Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Argentina) 6-3, 6-3
[8] Enzo Couacaud (France) vs Dalibor Svrcina (Czech Republic) 6-0, 5-7, 6-2
Martin Landaluce (Spain) vs [WC] Gabi Adrian Boitan (Romania) 6-4, 6-3
Dmitry Popko (Kazakhstan) - [WC] Cezar Crețu (Romania) 7-5, 6-3
Double / Quarters
[4] Karol Drzewiecki (Poland) / Piotr Matuszewski (Poland) vs Vladyslav Orlov (Ukraine) / David Stevenson (Great Britain) 6-4, 6-2
Alexandru Jecan (Romania) / Szymon Walkow (Poland) - [1] Luis David Martinez (Venezuela) / Cristian Rodriguez (Colombia) 7-6 (5), 6-3
Luis Britto (Brazil) / Roy Stepanov (Israel) vs [Alt] Tomas Lipovsek Puches (Argentina) / Matei Cristian Onofrei (Romania) 6-1, 7-5
[WC] Cezar Cretu (Romania) / Bogdan Pavel (Romania) - [2] Anirudh Chandrasekar (India) / Arjun Kadhe (India) 7-6 (6), 4-6, 10-2

Schedule for Friday, July 12:
Central Ground / Start time 13.30
Valentin Royer (France) vs [6] Hugo Dellien (Bolivia)
Adolfo Daniel Vallejo (Paraguay) vs Martin Landaluce (Spain)

Not before 6pm
[8] Enzo Couacaud (France) vs Dmitry Popko (Kazakhstan)
Alexandru Jecan (Romania) / Szymon Walkow (Poland) vs [4] Karol Drzewiecki (Poland) / Piotr Matuszewski (Poland)
Luis Britto (Brazil) / Roy Stepanov (Israel) vs [WC] Cezar Crețu (Romania) / Bogdan Pavel (Romania)

Field 5 / Start time 17.00
Javier Barranco Cosano (Spain) vs Juan Pablo Ficovich (Argentina)