Flavio Cipolla defeated second seed Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-1 on Wednesday and Igor Andreev rallied to beat fourth seed Denis Istomin 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-2 as both reached the Grand Prix Hassan II quarter-finals.
Cipolla did not face a single break point while breaking Dolgopolov’s serve twice in the first set. The Italian then quickly broke Dolgopolov twice at the start of the second.
Cipolla is scheduled to face Benoit Paire of France, who saved 12 of 14 break points en route to a 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-2 win over Matthias Bachinger of Germany.
Andreev saved eight of nine break points and broke Istomin four times. He is set to play Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain, who comfortably beat Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-4, 6-2.
US MEN’S CLAY COURT
AP, HOUSTON, Texas
Third seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain served four aces in the tiebreaker to overpower Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) on Wednesday in the second round of the US Men’s Clay Court Championships.
Lopez, ranked No. 15 in the world, played on clay for the first time this year and fell behind 4-1 in the opening set, before unleashing his big serve to pull out the set. Lopez had three aces to take a 6-1 lead in the tiebreaker and closed it out with an ace on his fourth match point.
The Spaniard’s next opponent is Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq, who cruised past Germany’s Bjorn Phau 6-1, 6-0.
In first-round action, South Africa’s Kevin Anderson got control of his serve in the second set and beat Brazil’s Joao Souza 6-3, 6-4, setting up a match against Sam Querrey of the US.
Ryan Harrison of the US boomed 13 aces, including the final two points of the match, to upset seventh seed Alex Bogomolov Jr of Russia 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Harrison, ranked No. 65 in the world, overcame three break points in the fourth game of the final set to hold and then broke the Russian in the fifth game for a 4-1 lead.
Harrison, who saved nine of 11 break points, is scheduled to face another Russian, Igor Kunitsyn, in the next round.
Bobby Reynolds of the US also eliminated a seeded player, beating No. 8 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 6-3. Reynolds is set to play compatriot Ryan Sweeting in the second round.
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