Second-seeded South African Kevin Anderson locked up his sixth ATP quarter-final berth of the season with a straight-sets win over Jerzy Janowicz, while Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun beat South Korea’s Chung Hye-on 7-6 (7/1), 1-6, 7-5 on Wednesday at the Winston-Salem Open in North Carolina.
Lu booked a meeting with 13th-seeded American Steve Johnson, who upset third-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4).
With the start of the US Open less than a week away, Anderson kept his campaign going at this hardcourt tune-up with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 victory over Poland’s Janowicz, runner-up last year to Czech Lukas Rosol.
“I was really pleased with today’s performance,” said Anderson, who fired 17 aces and saved all three break points he faced. “It was an improvement from yesterday. I served well today, which was the big goal. I took care of my own service games. When you’re playing a big server like Jerzy that’s one of the most important aspects.”
Anderson next faces 18-year-old Croatian Borna Coric, who needed only 57 minutes to rout Argentinian Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 6-1.
Coric, who toppled Andy Murray in his most recent hard-court quarter-final in Dubai, will be seeking the fifth victory of his career against a top-20 player when he takes on Anderson.
In the other quarter-final in the bottom half of the draw, sixth seed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil was to meet Malek Jaziri.
Bellucci defeated Czech Jiri Vesely 6-1, 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, while Tunisia’s Jaziri downed Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-5, 6-4.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert kept the French flag flying, defeating Britain’s Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 6-0.
Bedene stunned top-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon in the second round.
Herbert will take on Spain’s Pablo Carreno-Busta, who defeated Italian Simone Bolelli 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
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