JOHANNESBURG: Seeds Feliciano Lopez, Rajeev Ram and Stephane Robert claimed straight-set triumphs Wednesday to reach the South African Open quarter-finals.
Feliciano Lopez
Third seed Lopez of Spain faded after a sizzling start for the second consecutive round at the Montecasino entertainment centre before overcoming Slovenian Blaz Kavcic 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) in a lively 81-minute encounter.
American Ram, seeded fifth in this US$442,500 ATP tournament, advanced by winning a couple of tiebreakers against German Bjorn Phau with the first lasting far longer than the second.
Frenchman Robert, the lowest seed at eight, was taken to a tiebreaker in the first set against local hope Izak van der Merwe before dropping just a single game in the second on a hot day in the South African financial capital.
Jamaican giant Dustin Brown was the other qualifier for the last eight, overcoming Laurent Recouderc of France 6-4, 6-4 after shocking fourth seed Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland in the opening round.
Lopez will face Ram while Robert tackles Brown in the next round while the other four second round ties were scheduled for yesterday at the 3,000-capacity temporary venue in a leafy upmarket suburb.
Top seed and crowd favourite Gael Monfils faces fellow Frenchman Josselin Ouanna while second seed David Ferrer of Spain confronts Slovak Karel Beck as he strives to better a semi-finals finish here last year.
Superb serving and forehands propelled Lopez into a 4-0 lead over Kavcic and he wrapped up the first set within 27 minutes, but any thoughts that the second would be equally quick were swiftly dispelled.
The set went with service for 12 games as Lopez won his more comfortably than Kavcic before a couple of careless tiebreaker errors by the Slovenian triggered his demise.
“It was tough and I tired during the second set while Blaz improved considerably. However, I am happy to be in the quarter-finals,” said Lopez.
Van der Merwe appeared to have Robert on the rack during their opening set with the South African easily holding serve while the Frenchman conjured a series of miraculous shots to stay in contention.
But after a 60-minute first set settled 9-7 on a tiebreaker, the second lasted just 20 with the eighth seed punishing his increasingly unhappy rival who dropped eight consecutive points to quickly trail by two games.
“My fighting spirit was the difference as I was often in trouble during the first set only to remain calm on the big points and hang in there,” admitted Robert. — AFP