Argentine Juan Monaco reached the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open after defeating Taiwan’s Jimmy Wang 6-4, 7-5 yesterday.
The second seed was surprised he was given such a hard time by the wild card, but said he was happy with the way he played at the indoor Putra Stadium on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.
“I hope I can continue to pick up my game and reach the final,” said the world No. 11, who faces Canadian Vasek Pospisil in today’s quarter-finals.
Monaco raced to a 2-0 lead in the first set, but world No. 151 Wang fought back before losing 6-4. Wang then threatened to stretch the match to three sets, but Monaco refused to let the second set slip as he wrapped up the match after being tied 5-5.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko also progressed to the quarter-finals after defeating Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-5, 6-4.
Fifth seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain, who ranks world No. 32, fought hard but in the end lost to Igor Sijsling 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (7-2).
Thailand open
AFP, BANGKOK
Gilles Simon of France, the 2009 Thailand Open winner, continued to struggle with a shoulder injury, but managed a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Japan’s Go Soeda yesterday to reach the quarter-finals.
Australian Bernard Tomic, seeded eighth, struggled in his own way, coming out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 second-round winner over Israeli opponent Dudi Sela after nearly two-and-a-half hours.
In the doubles, Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun and Danai Udomchoke of Thailand beat Scotland’s Jamie Murray and Andre Sa of Brazil 6-4, 7-5.
Additional reporting by Staff writer
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