Second seed Florent Bax ended Rwanda’s Claude Ishimwe’s impressive run at the Rwanda Open after defeating the home player in straight sets at the RP Kigali/Kicukiro Ecology Tennis Court on Thursday. After making history by earning his first ATP point, Ishimwe entered the second-round match hoping to extend his remarkable campaign. However, the Frenchman proved too strong, cruising to a 6-0, 6-1 victory to book his place in the quarterfinals. ALSO READ: Bax sets up Rwanda Open second-round showdown with Ishimwe Bax took control from the opening game, putting Ishimwe under constant pressure with his powerful serve and aggressive play. The Rwandan struggled to handle the Frenchman’s delivery and was unable to win a game as Bax raced through the opening set 6-0. The second set was briefly interrupted by rain, giving Ishimwe an opportunity to regroup and assess his opponent before returning to the court. However, the break did little to alter the momentum, as Bax resumed his dominance with a strong serve and powerful groundstrokes. Bax eventually closed out the second set 6-1 to secure his place in the last eight and bring Ishimwe’s historic Rwanda Open campaign to an end. Elsewhere, Zimbabwean Benjamin Lock once again fell to Frenchman Calvin Hemery in a marathon three-set battle that lasted three hours and 51 minutes. Hemery edged Lock 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(5) to advance to the quarterfinals. The two players had last met in the final of the first-week M25 Kigali tournament, where Hemery also prevailed, winning 6-4, 6-4. Fourth seed Corentin Denolly also progressed to the quarterfinals after defeating American Preston Brown 6-2, 6-2, while top seed Max Houkes beat Italy’s Manuel Plunger 6-3, 6-4 in straight sets. In the other round-of-16 matches, Algeria’s Toufik Sahtali defeated Kenya’s Kael Shalin Shah 6-4, 6-2. South African sixth seed Alec Beckley beat Israel’s Yshai Oliel 6-3, 6-1, while India’s Dev Javia defeated compatriot Yash Chaurasia 6-3, 6-0. Germany’s Marlon Vankan secured his place in the quarterfinals after beating American Noah Schachter 6-3, 6-2. The quarterfinals will be played on Friday, October 9. Quarterfinal fixtures Florent Bax vs Dev Javia Corentin Denolly vs Toufik Sahtali Marlon Vankan vs Calvin Hemery Max Houkes vs Alec Beckley
