Top-seeded Andy Murray advanced to the quarter-finals of the World Tennis Tournament with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Vasek Pospisil of Canada on Thursday.
The Australian Open runner-up, who faces eighth-seeded Gilles Simon of France in the next round, fought back from a break of serve in the second set and won the last four games.
“I moved well, and I felt like when I really needed to, I was able to improve my level and step my game up a bit,” Murray said. “I found a little bit of extra intensity in the important moments.”
Photo: EPA
None more so than when Pospisil served for the second set at 5-4.
“He was in a great position. But we had a 30-shot rally on set point. It was a very physical rally, I was making him do more of the running,” said Murray, the 2009 Rotterdam champ. “It took quite a lot out of him.”
Simon, who beat countryman Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-3, trails Murray 12-1 in career head-to-heads.
Second-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada, third-seeded Tomas Berdych and No. 4 Stan Wawrinka also advanced.
Defending champion Berdych hit 10 aces in a 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Andreas Seppi.
The third-seeded Czech takes on Gael Monfils for a spot in the semifinals.
“[Seppi] was not easy at all. I had my game plan, which worked perfectly from the beginning,” Berdych said. “He just started to play much better and took his chance, the only one he had in the second set. But in the third set, I was able to get my chances and execute.”
Raonic hit 17 aces in a 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) victory over Italy’s Simone Bolelli, while Wawrinka, the 2013 Australian Open champion, labored to a 6-7 (7/2), 6-4, 6-2 win against Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
MEMPHIS OPEN
Australian Bernard Tomic fired nine aces past Alexandr Dolgopolov in ousting the fourth-seeded Ukranian 6-1, 7-5 on Thursday to reach the ATP Memphis Open quarter-finals.
The German-born 22-year-old dispatched 23rd-ranked Dolgopolov in 66 minutes to book a date in the final eight against Donald Young, who eliminated fellow American Denis Kudla 7-5, 6-3.
Tomic’s win was the biggest upset of the US$585,000 indoor hardcourt event.
Second-seeded South African Kevin Anderson advanced on cue with a brisk 6-3, 6-2 victory over Australian Sam Groth.
Anderson set up a quarter-final meeting with sixth-seeded American Steve Johnson, who defeated Germany’s Dustin Brown 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3).
Tomic, who ousted Dutchman Igor Sijsling in the first round, did not face a break point in ripping through the opening set and rescued seven of eight break-points against him in the second.
“I played pretty good the first set,” Tomic said. “After that was a roller-coaster, but I managed to stay in it and winning the second set was important. I was down a break 4-1. I said to myself: ‘It’s only one break. Stay in there and have a shot’ and it worked for me.”
Tomic, ranked 49th, improved to 3-5 all-time against Dolgopolov. He had won their most recent prior matchup in last year’s Sydney quarter-finals and in a five-set battle in the third round of the 2012 Australian Open.
Tomic has now reached the quarter-finals in three of his four tournaments this year.
“I’m focusing, I’m trying my best,” he said. “I need to improve a lot — I’m ready for that challenge.”
BRAZIL OPEN
Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic defeated seventh-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-7 (8/6), 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the Brazil Open on Thursday.
Lajovic broke Verdasco’s serve at 4-4 in the final set then easily closed out the match in the final game. The 77th-ranked Serb, who did not lose serve throughout the match, faces qualifier Luca Vanni of Italy. Vanni defeated Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3.
Third-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy beat Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, while sixth-seeded Santiago Giraldo of Colombia advanced past Argentine qualifier Carlos Berloc 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 and Joao Souza of Brazil defeated Slovakian Martin Klizan 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
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