Tennis News

In his opening match, top seed David Ferrer bested Radek Stepanek 7-5, 6-3 on Thursday to move into the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur. Ferrer, who received a first-round bye, went 5-for-8 on break chances and closed out the win in 93 minutes.

The World No. 8 improved to 41-10 on the season with the win, and is well-positioned to book his seventh trip to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. With 3,005 Emirates ATP Race To London points, Ferrer is 710 points behind No. 7 Rafael Nadal and 650 points ahead of No. 9 Richard Gasquet, neither of whom are playing this week.

In the quarter-finals, the 33 year old will face Mikhail Kukushkin. The Spaniard holds a 5-0 lead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

“This first match wasn’t easy,” said Ferrer. “I was feeling the jet lag a little bit, but it was the same for Radek. Now I will try to improve my game for tomorrow. Every match is different, and Kukushkin is a good player. He is having a very good year.”

Eighth seed Vasek Pospisil reached his third tour-level quarter-final of the season as he battled past Marcos Baghdatis 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3.

The Canadian struck 11 aces and won one point more than Baghdatis as he claimed his 20th win of the season in two hours and 28 minutes. Baghdatis was bidding to reach the Kuala Lumpur final for the second time this week, having finished runner-up in 2011 (l. to Tipsarevic).

“I didn’t really have a strategy,” said Pospisil, who struggled with cramp towards the end of the match. “I was just trying to stand on the court, be able to play the points and try to win. When I saw the ball I just tried to hit it hard and keep the points short. I played well, but I was just trying to get through my service games somehow. I was fortunate for sure to have won that.”

The 25-year-old Pospisil, who reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final at Wimbledon earlier this year (l. to Murray), goes on to face second seed Feliciano Lopez.

The Spaniard survived a late fightback from qualifier Mischa Zverev to prevail 6-3, 7-6(4) in 90 minutes. Lopez was broken as he served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but regrouped to win the subsequent tie-break.

Lopez leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Pospisil 1-0, having beaten the Canadian in their one previous meeting at the 2011 US Open. The left-hander has a 28-21 match record on the season, and is playing his first tournament since reaching the US Open quarter-finals (l. to Djokovic). 

Grigor Dimitrov rallied to defeat Joao Sousa 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and seven minutes to advance to the quarter-finals. The No. 4 seed was down 2-4 in the final set before sweeping the next four games to set up a meeting with Benjamin Becker. With the win, Dimitrov improved his 2015 tour-level record to 28-17 and evened the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head series at 1-1.

Marin Cilic, seeded second, needed nearly two hours to defeat John Millman 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 and advance to the quarter-finals of the Shenzhen Open on Thursday. The 2014 US Open champion improved to 24-14 in 2015 and remains in contention for a first ATP World Tour title since winning in Moscow a year ago (d. Bautista Agut).

Cilic controlled the first set, sweeping all 13 first-serve points and breaking his Australian opponent twice in as many opportunities. Millman improved his first serve percentage from 57 per cent to 67 per cent in the second set and converted on his lone break point to push the match to a decider. 

“I was generally happy with my performance in the first set,” said Cilic. “In the first game of the second set, he hit good returns. Then he served really well after that. It was not easy to get back in the match. The conditions are really humid, so you have to be prepared. It’s more demanding physically, but I served well and that helped me get some free points at critical moments.”

The Croat, No. 14 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, struck six of his 12 total aces in the final set, and converted on his first match point to take the pair’s initial FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

Next up for Cilic is Korean Hyeon Chung, who needed just 56 minutes to down Aljaz Bedene, 6-2, 6-0 to reach his first ATP World Tour quarter-final. The 19 year old went 6-for-8 on break points and earned his 10^th tour-level win of the season (10-9). Currently World No. 58, Chung is aiming to reach No. 35 and become the highest-ranked male player in history from South Korea.

Cilic leads the rivalry 1-0, having defeated Chung 7-6(2), 6-3 in Washington two months ago.

In what has been the best season of his career, fifth seed Adrian Mannarino reached his sixth ATP World Tour quarter-final as he defeated Chinese wild card Yan Bai 7-5, 7-6(7).

The 27-year-old Frenchman reached a career-high No. 27 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in July, in a year that has seen him reach his first ATP World Tour finals in Auckland (l. to Vesely) and Bogota (l. to Tomic).

Mannarino notched his 27th win of 2015 as he edged the No. 266-ranked Bai in one hour and 50 minutes. The left-hander converted three of his seven break points as he denied Bai a place in his first ATP World Tour quarter-final.

Mannarino goes on to face fourth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who dismissed Lukas Rosol 6-4, 6-3 in 76 minutes. The Spaniard, who improved to a 27-19 match record on the season, is chasing his third ATP World Tour title of the season this week to add to triumphs in Zagreb (d. Seppi) and Bucharest (d. Vesely).