Casper Ruud fed off the growing expectation that surrounds him as he took a convincing first step in the Nordea Open.
The 22-year-old Norwegian has rocketed from outside the top 50 to 16th currently in the world rankings in just 18 months, and he is the top seed this week in Sweden.
Such a status is all rather novel for Ruud, but he breezed to a 6-0 6-2 win over 18-year-old Danish wildcard Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune on Thursday.
That carried him through to a quarter-final meeting with Swiss player Henri Laaksonen.
Ruud is back on clay this week, having enjoyed great success on the surface already this season, reaching semi-finals of the Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Monte Carlo, while also winning a title in Geneva.
A first-round exit on the Wimbledon grass followed those positive results, so another event on clay comes as a boost.
"It is a surface I have had the most success of my career, it is great to be back here in Bastad," Ruud said after crushing Rune's hopes.
"There is a bit of extra pressure [being the top seed]. In a match like this against a fellow Scandinavian younger player, it is even more."
He added, quoted by the ATP website: "I think I was very professional in my mindset today. I played a match without any errors really from the first to the last point.
"It is a nice feeling being the top seed but also pressure. I felt great crowd support, it is nice to feel that energy."
Qualifier Laaksonen beat Elias Ymer 6-2 7-5, while third seed Fabio Fognini was bounced out of the tournament, losing 6-3 1-6 6-4 to Spain's world number 97 Roberto Carballes Baena, who will tackle Slovakian Gombos in the last-eight stage on Friday.
At the Hamburg European Open, Pablo Carreno Busta justified his standing as second seed with a 7-5 6-3 win over fellow Spaniard Carlos Taberner to reach the quarter-finals.
Stefanos Tsitsipas is the top seed this week at the tournament in Germany and won through to the last eight on Wednesday.
Others to move through the rounds in Hamburg on Thursday included Dusan Lajovic and Federico Delbonis, the latter advancing with a handy 6-3 7-6 (7-4) win over fourth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Alcaraz lauds 'beast' Sinner after winning China Open classic
Carlos Alcaraz described Jannik Sinner as "a beast" and the world's best player after downing the Italian in Wednesday's remarkable China Open final.
Alcaraz and Sinner battled it out for over three hours in the Beijing showpiece match, with Alcaraz eventually triumphing 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 7-6 (7-3).
The Spaniard took the decisive tie-break with a remarkable run of seven straight points, having lost a tie-break in the opening set to fall behind.
At the age of 21 years and 150 days, Alcaraz is the youngest player to defeat the world number one in an ATP event final after losing the opening set since Juan Martin del Potro (20 years, 356 days), who came back to beat Roger Federer at the US Open in 2009.
Speaking after his sixth career win over the Italian (four defeats), Alcaraz outlined his belief he had overcome the very best in the sport.
"He could have won in two, I could have won in two, he could have won in three. It was a really close match," said Alcaraz.
"Jannik, once again, he showed that he's the best player in the world, at least for me.
"The level that he's playing, it's unbelievable. It's a really high quality of tennis. His shots, physically, mentally... he's a beast."
Sinner breezed into a 3-0 lead in the third-set tie-break, only for Alcaraz to show extraordinary resilience to maintain his 100% record against Sinner this year, having previously beaten him at Indian Wells and Roland Garros.
"I never lost hope. Honestly I knew that every tie-break Jannik plays is almost on his side," Alcaraz said of the decider.
"I thought that in the third set, I'm not going to lie down after two mini-breaks for him. I thought, 'okay, I have to give everything that I have just to try to give myself the opportunity to be close'.
"During the whole week I've been playing great tennis. Probably sometimes the luck went to my side a little bit in the matches."
Alcaraz topples Sinner in China Open epic
Carlos Alcaraz struck seven successive points in a deciding tie-break to seal a remarkable victory over world number one Jannik Sinner in the China Open final.
The leading lights of tennis' next generation of stars battled it out for well over three hours in Beijing on Wednesday before Alcaraz finally prevailed 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 7-6 (7-3).
Having cruised into a 5-2 lead in the opening set, Alcaraz wobbled to allow defending champion Sinner to reel off four of the next five games to force a tie-break that the Italian won with three breaks of serve.
An hour-long second set was settled in Alcaraz's favour, but a topsy-turvy decider went the distance.
Having given up the first break, Sinner responded by hitting back in game eight to restore parity, with another tie-break required.
Sinner breezed into a 3-0 lead, only for Alcaraz to string together an extraordinary run of seven straight points to claim the crown.
Data Debrief: King Carlos
It is now 6-4 to Alcaraz in the head-to-head between the Spaniard and Sinner.
Alcaraz has now won all three of their matches this season, triumphing previously at both Indian Wells and Roland-Garros. It is the first time either of the duo has won three straight matches against the other.
At the age of 21 years and 150 days, Alcaraz is the youngest player to defeat the world number one in an ATP event final after losing the opening set since Juan Martin del Potro (20y 356d), who came back to beat Roger Federer at the US Open in 2009.
Injury forces Osaka out as Gauff progresses at China Open
Naomi Osaka was forced to retire from her China Open meeting with Coco Gauff due to a lower back injury, sending the American through to the quarter-finals.
Osaka, who was aiming for her fourth successive win after returning from maternity leave, had earlier caused Gauff plenty of problems as she took the opening set.
After a series of breaks to open the match, Osaka went into the changeover 3-2 up but received treatment on her back after appearing to struggle with her movement.
Some error-prone play by Gauff allowed Osaka to clinch a third break before serving out the opener, but she swiftly gave up a break to go behind in the second set.
Gauff ultimately edged a hard-fought, 51-minute second set featuring several more breaks, with Osaka retiring before the decider could get underway, having struggled to land her first serves in the latter stages.
Gauff now advances to the China Open quarter-finals for the second year in a row, with Ukraine's Yulia Starodubtsewa up next for the world number six.
Fellow American and second seed Jessica Pegula, meanwhile, was beaten in straight sets by Paula Badosa, who will face home favourite Zhang Shuai in the last eight.
Data Debrief: Twenty up for Gauff
The victory may not have come in the manner she envisaged, but Gauff has brought up her 20th career win over a former grand slam champion on the WTA Tour.
Since 2000, Gauff is the fifth player to achieve 20 such wins before turning 21, along with Maria Sharapova, Kim Clijsters (28 each), Martina Hingis (24) and Serena Williams (22).
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