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Australian singles interest in the Sofia Open is over after Max Purcell and Chris O'Connell were both beaten, but one doubles duo remains.
Max Purcell and Chris O'Connell have both been knocked out of the Sofia Open men's singles despite battling two-hour-plus performances in the Bulgarian showpiece.
O'Connell took a first-set lead against seventh-seeded Austrian Sebastian Ofner, ranked 22 places above the Australian world No.66. But Ofner came back to take the match 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-2 in two hours, 15 minutes.
Purcell, who had been seeded sixth, suffered a disappointing loss to Turkish wildcard Cem Ilkel. Ranked 259th in the world, more than 200 places below 45-ranked Purcell, Ilkel won 6-3 4-6 6-4.
Purcell did, however, progress in the doubles, partnering John-Patrick Smith to a 4-6 6-110-4 super tie-break win over Andrew Harris and Rinky Hijikata in an all-Australian affair. Purcell had earlier beaten Hijikata in the singles.
In the singles quarter-finals Ilkel now meets Briton Jack Draper who upset Italian No.1 seed Lorenzo Musetti 7-5 6-2 while Ofner plays French No.2 seed Adrian Mannarino who put out Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4 6-4.
In the other last eight pairings Jan-Lennard Struff faces Fabian Morzsan and Marton Fuscovics meets the winner of Pavel Kotov's match with Sebastian Baez.