ALMATY, Kazakhstan, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas brought Kazakh veteran Mikhail Kukushkin's professional tennis career to an end with a commanding straight-sets victory at the Almaty Open on Wednesday, as three other seeded players crashed out of the ATP 250 tournament.
The Greek former world No. 3 defeated 38-year-old wild card Kukushkin 6-1, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals, ending the home favorite's farewell campaign in front of his supporters.
Kukushkin, who reached a career-high ranking of 39th, had announced that the Almaty tournament would be his last, bringing down the curtain on a career spanning nearly two decades.
Tsitsipas will next face Australia's James Duckworth, who produced one of the day's biggest upsets by defeating second seed Luciano Darderi of Italy 7-5, 7-6 (9).
Duckworth also enjoyed a strong run in Almaty last year, beating seeded players Gabriel Diallo of Canada and Flavio Cobolli of Italy on his way to the semifinals.
Fourth seed Andrey Rublev also suffered an early exit, losing 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to France's Adrian Mannarino in a three-set contest.
Italian Mattia Bellucci added to the day's surprises by overcoming sixth-seeded Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-4 in their first-round encounter.
Elsewhere, Georgian qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili advanced to the last eight with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Argentina's Facundo Diaz Acosta.
Czech player Tomas Machac completed the day's singles results with a comfortable 6-2, 6-0 first-round win over Kazakh wild card Zangar Nurlanuly.
Wednesday's action featured four second-round matches and two remaining first-round encounters, with three seeded players eliminated.
On Thursday, top seed and defending champion Daniil Medvedev will begin his title defense against Japan's Sho Shimabukuro, while Kazakhstan's highest-ranked player, third seed Alexander Bublik, faces Hungary's Fabian Marozsan. ■
