Top-seeded Carlos Moya saved a match point against American Paul Goldstein before he rallied for a 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 win Thursday and moved into the quarterfinals at the Tata Open tennis tournament.
The 121st-ranked Goldstein rattled his fancied Spanish rival with his accurate passing shots, and was one point away from clinching the match at 7-6 in the second-set tiebreaker before Moya bounced back.
Moya's quarterfinal opponent will be France's Thierry Ascione, who dropped a set before overcoming Indian Davis Cup player Prakash Amritraj 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Amritraj, 20, is the son of India's former Davis Cup captain Vijay Amritraj.
Another Spaniard, fifth-seeded Felix Mantilla, beat Dutchman John van Lottum 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-4 and advance to a quarterfinal against third-seeded Sjeng Schalken, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Austrian Julian Knowle 6-3, 6-3.
"I was very luckily to win today," said Moya, a former world No. 1 whose 14 titles include the 1998 French Open crown. "Paul played very well and I kept making mistakes with my forehand. He was covering the court very well.
"I was putting a lot of speed in my shots, but everything kept getting returned with relative ease. I had so many breakpoints, but wasn't able to convert them. Matches like this do happen."
Moya, 27, said he feared being knocked out of the tournament in straight sets.
"I thought I was going to lose after squandering a 6-2 lead in the tiebreaker," he said. "I'm lucky not to be booking my flight after this match."
Goldstein said he was disappointed with the loss, but not with his effort.
"It could have been a career-changing victory for me. I played well, made him work hard for the points." he said. "Carlos has one of the biggest forehands in the game. I allowed him to play too many of those midway in the match, and that made the eventual difference."
Goldstein broke Moya's first service game and saved three break points in the fifth game en route to winning the first set.
In the second, two aces helped Moya retain service in the third game and the pair traded breaks in the seventh and eighth games to force a tiebreaker.
Moya led 6-2 before Goldstein won five consecutive points to set up match point. But the Spaniard produced two big winners to get back into the match.
He broke Goldstein's serve in the seventh game of the deciding set.
Amritraj, ranked a lowly 287th, broke the 89th-ranked Ascione in the eighth game of the first in front of a partisan crowd before the Frenchman rallied to dominate the remainder of the match.
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