De Minaur enters Washington Open quarters; Noskova leads Czech charge at BJK Cup Finals

Defending champion Alex de Minaur secured his spot in the Washington Open quarterfinals with a decisive 6-2, 6-3 victory over 17-year-old qualifier Cruz Hewitt. The match marked the first ATP Tour encounter between the two Australians, who have known each other for years.

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It was definitely weird. I knew I was going to play him on the tour someday, but I didn’t actually expect it to be this week. It was an amazing feeling. Even all the lead up, seeing all the incredible pictures that we have together and how we’ve both grown up.

"It was definitely weird," de Minaur said after the match. "I knew I was going to play him on the tour someday, but I didn’t actually expect it to be this week. It was an amazing feeling. Even all the lead up, seeing all the incredible pictures that we have together and how we’ve both grown up."

De Minaur, the men's second seed, will next face American Brandon Nakashima. Meanwhile, men's second seed Ben Shelton also advanced, overcoming France's Ugo Humbert in a hard-fought three-set match. Shelton will play Alejandro Tabile in the next round.

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For me, it was all about heart tonight.

In the women's draw, top seed Jessica Pegula rallied from a set down to defeat Magdalena Frech 3-6, 6-3, 6-0. Pegula attributed her slow start to not attacking the ball effectively but found her rhythm to dominate the latter stages of the match. She is set to face Anna Kalinskaya next. Ukraine's Elina Svitolina also booked her quarter-final berth, defeating Polina Kudermetova 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.

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I wasn’t quite attacking the ball, and I felt like once I did that, then everything else kind of started to click together.