Czech top seed Tomas Berdych was ousted from the ATP and WTA Citi Open on Thursday, falling 6-2, 6-4 to Canada’s Vasek Pospisil in a third-round match.
Pospisil, who at 36th in the rankings was 31 spots beneath Berdych, collected his third career victory over a top-10 foe, his first coming over Berdych nearly a year ago in the round of 16 at Canada.
In the quarter-finals for the second week in a row at a US Open hard-court warm-up event, Pospisil is to face Santiago Giraldo, who beat Victor Estrella Burgos 6-2, 6-0.
Photo: AFP
“It was a huge win for me,” Pospisil said. “Beating [Berdych] last year gave me a little more confidence.”
Pospisil, who won this year’s Wimbledon doubles crown with the US’ Jack Sock, seeks his second semi-final of the season after a back injury contributed to his going winless in eight matches from February to May.
Wimbledon semi-finalist Milos Raonic fired 27 aces in a 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/3) victory over Australian Lleyton Hewitt that put the second-seeded Canadian in the quarter-finals.
Raonic, who also won his opener over Sock in two tie-breakers, is to face US giant-killer Steve Johnson for a spot in the last four.
Johnson dumped ATP aces leader Ivo Karlovic 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (9/7) despite 27 aces by the Croatian ninth seed. A day earlier he beat US fifth seed John Isner, who ranks second in aces and fired 29 past Johnson.
In each win, Johnson benefited from a double fault by his rival on the penultimate point to win a third-set tie-breaker.
Japanese fourth seed Kei Nishikori and French sixth seed Richard Gasquet, the top seeds remaining in the men’s competition after Raonic, are to meet in another quarter-final.
Nishikori dispatched Slovakian Lukas Lacko 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, after being pushed to three sets for a second straight day.
Gasquet, coming off a right arm injury that saw him withdraw last week at Atlanta, beat the US’ Tim Smyczek 6-3, 6-2.
South African seventh seed Kevin Anderson downed Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri 6-3, 6-4. He is next to play US left-hander Donald Young, who outlasted Uzbek Denis Istomin 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the top remaining women’s seeds, are to meet in a quarter-final.
Second-seeded Makarova beat the US’ Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-4, while the fifth-seeded Pavlyuchenkova defeated Japanese qualifier Hiroko Kuwata 6-3, 6-3.
Russian sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, twice a Grand Slam champion, ousted Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 7-5 to book a last-eight date with the US’ Vania King.
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