Three-time champion Lleyton Hewitt needed all his famed resilience plus a large slice of luck to shake off dogged Briton Jonny Marray and reach the quarterfinals of the Stella Artois Championships on Thursday.
The sixth seed stonewalled six set points in the first set and had to fight off one more in the second before finally downing the rampaging, net-charging Marray 7-6 7-6.
"He enjoyed coming into the net and picked up some great low volleys, that's for sure," the Australian smiled after setting up a quarterfinal with Russia's Igor Andreev.
PHOTO: AP
Marray was jubilant despite defeat.
"I had a great time, it was a great atmosphere," the 23-year-old wildcard smiled. "I stuck to my gameplan and caused him a few problems."
Andy Roddick kept the defense of his title alive earlier on center court with a hard-fought 7-6 4-6 6-4 win over Mario Ancic.
The US Open champion struggled for 102 minutes against Ancic, a powerful Croatian, before finally clinching victory.
"That kind of match, you just have to stay the course," the top seed said.
"It was crucial to get through. I want to get some wins under my belt ... set the tone for the rest of the grasscourt season."
Roddick will face Thai Paradorn Srichaphan for a spot in the semis.
Earlier, Ian Flanagan's fairytale run ended when the Welshman was outclassed 6-2 6-0 by Sebastien Grosjean -- Roddick's victim in last year's final.
Flanagan became man of the moment at the US$860,265 grasscourt event by disposing of 2003 Wimbledon runner-up Mark Philippoussis and Romanian Victor Hanescu through the third round.
But in a 50 minute-drubbing, each of the 853 ranking places separating the 22-year-old Briton from France's Grosjean became painfully evident on a blustery Queen's Club center court.
Flanagan managed to hold his serve just twice and never threatened Grosjean's delivery.
"This last week has been the best week of my life, tennis-wise, and I am going to enjoy it until I walk out of the gates tonight," Flanagan said.
"I mean, that guy is the best player I have ever played against. I'm not disgraced at all. He has beaten Tim [Henman] ... he's beaten everybody. Today he was superb. He didn't give me an inch."
ATP Tournament
German number one Rainer Schuettler found his feet on grass on Thursday with a straight sets win over Swede Joachim Johansson which puts him through to the quarterfinals of the US$791,750 ATP tournament in Halle.
Schuettler, 28, came away 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 winner against 21-year-old Johansson who had beaten the second-seeded German in their only previous meeting in Sydney earlier this year.
"I played a solid game and served well. I didn't give him the chance to come back," said Schuettler after achieving his best showing at the pre-Wimbledon warm-up event here.
The German, who admitted that he "couldn't look at a racquet for a week" after his first round elimination from the French Open, next meets compatriot Nicolas Kiefer, winner of the title here in 1999.
Kiefer achieved his sixth win in 11 meetings against Swede Jonas Bjorkman 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Surprise package Fernando Verdasco, who dumped fourth seeded Dutchman Martin Verkerk in the first round, continued his form with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Italian Andreas Seppi.
The 20-year-old Spaniard next meets US sixth seed Mardy Fish who beat Armenian Sargis Sargsian 6-4, 6-3.
In the other quarterfinal matchups Czech third seed Jiri Novak meets German Tommy Haas and France's Arnaud Clement takes on world number one and defending champion Roger Federer of Switzerland who booked their spots on Wednesday.
Edgbaston
Champion Magdalena Maleeva was denied a shot at winning back-to-back Edgbaston titles at the Wimbledon grasscourt warm-up event, losing to Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn on Thursday.
Seeded fourth, Maleeva got off to a fantastic start but was reeled in by Tamarine who ran out a 0-6 6-4 6-2 winner.
"She killed me in the first set, everything was a winner," Tamarine said. "She was even hitting aces on second serves. But I fought hard and got back into the game.
"It really was a high quality match. I love coming to Birmingham, I like the courts here and grass really suits my game."
Tamarine is now favorite to come out of the top half of the draw and reach the final.
She next takes on ninth seed Emilie Loit of France in the quarterfinals while rising French teenager Tatiana Golovin -- winner of the French Open mixed doubles crown with Richard Gasquet last week -- takes on Anne Kremer of Luxembourg.
Loit beat Akiko Morigami 6-4 7-6.
In the bottom half of the draw, third seed Maria Sharapova advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4 6-3 win over Australia's Samantha Stosur.
"I really want to win this tournament as I had such a great experience here last year," Russian Sharapova said.
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
Top seeded Jessica Pegula on Friday once again fought back from a set down to reach the WTA Charleston Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against Russia’s Diana Shnaider. Defending champion Pegula has lost the first set in all three of her matches at the tournament so far, but again dug deep to maintain her hopes of retaining the title. The world No. 5 from the US took 2 hours, 10 minutes to defeat 19th-ranked Shnaider, relying on a formidable service game that included eight aces. Shnaider battled well in the first two sets and broke early for a 2-0 lead
RSS