Pinnington Jones’ dream Dallas run ended by Cilic

Briton Jack Pinnington Jones had his dream run at the Dallas Open ended by veteran Marin Cilic in the quarter-finals.

The 22-year-old progressed through two rounds of qualifying to make the tournament’s main draw, before upsetting Italy’s world number 20 Flavio Cobolli and 68th-ranked American Eliot Spizzirri to reach the last eight.

But, contesting the first ATP Tour quarter-final of his career, Pinnington Jones was beaten by 2014 US Open champion Cilic 6-1 6-4 in just 78 minutes.

The former world number three, 37, will meet the winner of the all-American match between top seed Taylor Fritz and Sebastian Korda for a place in the final.

At the Qatar Open, Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko followed up her shock win over Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina by defeating former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko to reach the final.

Pinnington Jones is set to rise 43 places in the ATP rankings, up to 138 in the world from 181st, following his memorable week.

He has embarked on a strong run of form since losing his first qualifying match at the Australian Open in January, reaching the final at the Soma Bay challenger event in Egypt prior to an impressive four-match winning run in Dallas.

That included achieving the biggest win of his career by overcoming Cobolli in his opening match.

It came after Pinnington Jones opted against returning for his final year at Texas Christian University, having completed his junior season last May in order to pursue a full-time tennis career.

After holding his opening service game, Pinnington Jones conceded a fourth break point in his second as Cilic put together a run of five straight games to seal a one-sided first set.