No. 11 seed Karen Khachanov won 29 of 30 first-serve points (96.7 percent) en route to a 6-4, 7-5 victory over No. 8 Casper Ruud on Saturday to reach the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open at Toronto.

The Russian had seven aces among 29 winners while dispatching Ruud to reach the 10th 1000-level quarterfinal of his career.

“My game plan was working, especially with the first serves,” Khachanov said. “The first serves in was not a high percentage, but the points won was quite high.

“I guess (there were) a little bit of nerves. It became difficult but I’m super glad I was able to pull through, break him one more time and finish the match.”

Ruud of Norway had 23 winners, including nine aces.

Khachanov will next face 26th-seeded Alex Michelsen, who recorded a 6-3, 6-3 victory over fellow American Learner Tien to reach the quarters.

Michelsen won 72.2 percent of his first-serve points (26 of 36) while beating his close friend.

It also helped that Tien committed 42 unforced errors.

“It feels really good, it’s uncharted territory from this point on,” Michelsen said. “We’re very close friends, we’ve been texting and sending each other memes as normal. We’ve grown a lot together.”

Defending champion Alexei Popyrin, despite going 0-for-11 on break-point opportunities in the first set, upset fifth-seeded Holger Rune of Denmark 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals.

The Australian had the edge for the match in aces (14-7) and winners (29-24), while Rune had more unforced errors (39-24) and double faults (5-4). Popyrin converted 3 of 14 break-point opportunities and won 87 percent of his first-serve points (39 of 45), while Run was 1 of 4 on break points and 65 percent (41 of 63) on first-serve points.

Popyrin next will face top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany, who led No. 14 Francisco Cerundolo 6-4, 1-0 when the Argentine retired because of an abdominal injury. Zverev won this event in 2017.

–Field Level Media