It was a day of upsets on Thursday at the Drummondville National Bank Challenger after with the top two seeds going out in the second round. Sancitoned by the ATP, the tournament offers $50,000 in prize money and will be played from March 14-22, 2015 at Tennis intérieur René-Verrier in Drummondville.
Top-seeded Lukas Lacko of Slovakia, ranked no. 95 in the world, was defeated by American Kevin King 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. The 24-year-old qualifier reached the quarter-finals last week at the Sherbrooke Futures. King will face Aussie John-Patrick Smith in the final eight on Friday. Smith beat Alejandro Falla in the second round.
Meanwhile, second-seeded Andreas Beck of Germany was knocked out by American Alex Kuznetsov 7-5, 1-6, 6-3. Ranked no. 33 in the world in 2000, Beck beat Canadian Filip Peliwo in the opening round. Kuznetsov will meet Bulgarian Dimitar Kutrovsky in the quarter-finals.
In Thursday’s evening session, Italian qualifier Matteo Donati upset fourth-seeded Slovak Norbert Gombos 7-6(5), 6-3. He will face Canadian Frank Dancevic on Friday night at 6:30 p.m.