Top Taiwanese men’s player Lu Yen-hsun defeated Luka Rosol from the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the Thailand Open yesterday.
It took Lu, ranked 52nd in the world, 57 minutes to beat his opponent, ranked 46th.
The Taiwanese player is set to face off next against top-seeded player Tomas Berdych from the Czech Republic.
Lu was not so lucky in the men’s doubles. Third-seeded Jamie Murray from the UK and Australian John Peers beat Lu and his Thai partner Danai Udomchoke 7-6 (7), 7-5 in the quarter-finals.
Frenchman Gilles Simon celebrated winning the 300th match of his career yesterday after dominating Australian Bernard Tomic 6-4, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals of the Thailand Open.
Simon, who flew to Asia immediately after defeating compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win the Metz title at the weekend, admitted that he did not know that he was on the cusp of a personal milestone.
“I must be getting older, I want to get to 400 now,” said the 28-year-old, who became the ninth Frenchman in the post-1968 Open era to win at least 300 matches in Tour play.
Elsewhere, Canadian third seed Milos Raonic needed more than two-and-a-half hours to overcome Australian Marinko Matosevic 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-4, hitting 21 aces. Raonic is scheduled to meet Feliciano Lopez today.
Russian fifth seed Mikhail Youzhny took victory over Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-3.
However, the day belonged to Simon, who secured an early break, carrying that margin through the opening set, which he won in 43 minutes.
In the second set, the French player earned the break for 6-5 as Tomic put a return wide. He closed out victory a game later, fter 79 minutes.
The ATP No. 14 is today to face Dutchman Igor Sijsling.
MALAYSIAN OPEN
AFP, KUALA LUMPUR
World No. 26 Jurgen Melzer will seek help from his younger brother Gerald to try to reach the semi-finals after setting up a date with Federico Delbonis.
The fourth-seeded Austrian qualified for the quarter-finals when he outlasted Germany’s Mischa Zverev 7-5, 6-4 at the Putra Stadium in Bangkok yesterday.
His victory sets up a clash with Delbonis today.
“I’ve never played Delbonis. He’s a young kid. Maybe I will ask my younger brother [Gerald] as he’s beat him once,” the 32-year-old Melzer said.
Joining Melzer are Joao Sousa of Portugal and fifth seed Julien Benneteau of France.
Second seed Stanislas Wawrinka was to take on Marcos Baghdatis, while sixth seed Dmitry Tursunov was to face Pablo Carreno Busta in the last matches of the round-of-16 scheduled late yesterday.
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