Romanian tennis player Filip Cristian Jianu on Tuesday advanced to the round of 16 of the Kigali Challenger II tournament in Rwanda, prize money USD 177,000, after defeating Dutchman Ryan Nijboer 7-6 (7/5) 7-5.
It took Jianu, 24, ranked 252nd, (24 years old, 252 ATP) two hours and 16 minutes to get past Nijboer, 26, ranked 524th. The Romanian was down 5-3 in the first set and saved three set points at 5-4.
Jianu is now 3-0 in the head-to-head count against Nijboer, whom he had beaten twice in Antalya, in 2022 and 2026, each time 6-4 6-2.
The Romanian won USD 3,060 and 7 ATP singles points, and in the round of 16 he will face Finnish Eero Vasa, 29, ranked 482nd, who defeated Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena, the third seed, 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7/3).
Jianu will also play in the men's doubles alongside Austrian Sandro Kopp.
Also in doubles, in the first round, Jianu's compatriot Victor Cornea and Spain's Bruno Pujol Navarro, the third seed, were defeated in the first round by Indians S. D. Prajwal Dev/Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-7 (1/7) 6-4 12-10. Cornea and his partner missed a match point at 10-9 in the super tiebreak.
Romania's Alexandru Jecan and Japanese Seita Watanabe are second seed.
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