The Tuscan takes advantage of Mertens’ withdrawal after seven matches, and the Romanian returns to defeat El-Wahi Husi

Two victories for the Italians in Eastbourne: Yasmine Paolini and Flavio Copoli qualified for the quarter-finals of the WTA 500 and ATP 250 tournaments respectively. Paolini beat Elise Mertens, taking advantage of the Belgian’s withdrawal, 5-2, in the first set. For knee problem. Seven matches in which the Italian played excellent tennis, always aggressive from the baseline, always looking for the net after a few shots and very strong willed, always looking to put the world number 33 in a difficult position, especially on the backhand side. Tomorrow there will be another tough test as Katie Boulter: the Briton is in good shape on grass and represents a good test against Wimbledon.

Nice comeback by Copoli, who beat English loser Giles Hussey (No. 359 ATP) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in almost two hours of play.. A really great match for the Romanian player: he was in a bad situation, having lost the first set badly when he was leading 4-1, but he reacted great and managed the decisive moments between the second and third sets perfectly, defusing almost continuous serve and volley from his opponent . Tomorrow will find Billy Harris trying to go further and reach the semi-finals.