Andy Murray, who caused a great upset by beating world No. 1 Roger Federer, followed it on Wednesday by almost stumbling to defeat to a relative unknown.
The 20-year-old Briton had to survive a jittery final set tie-break before getting through 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) against Fernando Verdasco, the world No. 30 from Spain.
Murray finished looking relieved and emotionally drained, as well as appearing to suffer discomfort in his right knee.
PHOTO: AP
His mobility was reduced from early in the second set and thereafter he relinquished most of his ambition to attack, relying upon containment and a liberal sprinkling of errors from Verdasco.
"You are relieved when you come through a match you have not played well," Murray said. "And it's difficult to explain, especially when you have been 6-2 up in the tie-break and it gets to 6-5."
At that dramatic moment the two men played by far the longest rally of the match -- more than 30 shots -- with Murray eventually luring Verdasco into over-hitting.
"I wasn't feeling comfortable. I was swinging at the ball so hard and it was landing halfway up the service box," Murray said with a humorless laugh.
This happened partly because of a strong breeze which made accuracy difficult to achieve and which created conditions totally unlike those in which Murray had played Federer.
Afterwards Murray claimed that his knee injury was not too serious to be able to play his quarter-final against Nikolay Davydenko with as good a chance as usual of winning.
The fifth-seeded Russian came through with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic.
Two seeds were beaten.
Richard Gasquet, the seventh-seeded Frenchman, lost 6-3, 6-4 to Igor Andreev, the Russian who trains much of the time on Spanish clay courts and who finds the high-bouncing Dubai hard courts to his liking.
Andreev made a great start, taking the first three games after Gasquet double faulted to drop serve and consolidating the advantage throughout the first set.
Both men then held serve four times in the second, until Andreev snatched the match-winning break in the penultimate game, again with the help of a Gasquet double fault, this time for 30-30.
Earlier eighth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych was dismissed 6-2, 7-5 by Spanish left-hander Feliciano Lopez.
Berdych came back from 2-5 to 5-5 in the second set as he strove to avoid a one-sided defeat, but found Lopez, who delivered ten aces, in good form and keen for a quarter-final with his compatriot David Ferrer, the world No. 4.
Another notable name to make an exit, possibly for the last time, was Fabrice Santoro, the 35-year-old who won an amazing final in 2002 but was beaten 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) by Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic.
However, Santoro weaved enough of his old magic with spins and tactical variations to lead 3-1 in the second set, prompting Djokovic to admit: "I was starting to lose my hair in the second set."
It avenged his loss to Santoro in the Masters Series in Paris in November.
"It was an honor to have played against such a very special player," Djokovic said.
The world No. 3 now plays Andreev, while Rafael Nadal, the French Open champion, takes on Andy Roddick, the former US Open champion in the last quarter-final.
CHANNEL OPEN
AFP,LAS VEGAS
Lleyton Hewitt's luck ran out on Wednesday as the second-seeded Australian crashed out of the US$436,000 ATP tournament at the hands of France's Julien Benneteau.
Benneteau shocked the defending champion 6-3, 7-5 to book a quarter-final berth against American Sam Querrey.
Hewitt, 27, has dominated here in recent years. He won the title in 2000 and 2003 as well as last year and has reached the final in five of his six appearances, including the past two years.
But Benneteau brought that run of success to a screeching halt. He broke Hewitt five times to hand him just his fourth defeat in his last 31 matches here.
Hewitt, ranked 24th in the world, had cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over erratic Russian Marat Safin in the first round.
However, his serve let him down against Benneteau, who is in search of his first career ATP singles title and improved to 6-4 this season.
Benneteau broke Hewitt twice en route to taking the first set and broke him twice again to lead 5-3 in the second.
Hewitt, showing a flash of the form that has earned him 26 career titles, held serve then regained a break as Benneteau double-faulted to even the second set at 5-5.
Benneteau, however, broke back and served out the match in 1 hour, 45 minutes.
The Frenchman's next opponent, unseeded Querrey, needed only 58 minutes to oust eighth-seeded German Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 6-1.
Querrey reached the quarter-finals for the second straight year.
The fourth-seeded Argentine Guillermo Canas reached the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Australian qualifier Chris Guccione.
Canas broke Guccione four times to advance to his first quarter-final since Metz last October. The 20th-ranked Canas is playing just his second tournament of the year after battling tendinitis in his left wrist.
Canas next faces American qualifier Amer Delic, who advanced when fifth seed Potito Starace of Italy retired with a back injury while trailing 6-3, 3-0.
Delic had also won his only previous meeting with Starace -- a five-set triumph in the first round of the 2006 Australian Open.
BANGALORE OPEN
AFP, BANGALORE, INDIA
Serena Williams cruised into the quarter-finals of the US$600,000 WTA Bangalore Open with an error-filled win over Tzipora Obziler of Israel on Wednesday.
The eight-time Grand Slam champion, seeded third and given a bye in the first round, beat Obziler 7-5, 6-0 in her first singles appearance on Indian soil.
Williams last month missed the Paris Open and the Antwerp event to undergo dental surgery.
Fourth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland survived a scare from Aiko Nakamura of Japan before advancing to the quarter-finals.
Schnyder dropped the first set on the tie-breaker, but recovered in time to take the next two sets 6-4, 6-2 in a two hour battle against the spirited Japanese.
Two seeded players, No. 5 Agnes Szavay of Hungary and No. 6 Sybille Bammer of Austria, were knocked out in the second round.
Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan served 16 aces as she came from behind to defeat Szavay 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in a match that lasted 2 hours, 30 minutes.
Amanmuradova will take on Schnyder next for a place in the semi-finals.
Anastasia Rodionova of Russia disposed of Bammer in straight sets 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 to set up a quarter-final clash with Williams.
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