Lopez, Giraldo Into Los Cabos QFs; Lajovic Tops Tomic

Dusan Lajovic upset second seed Bernard Tomic at the Abierto Mexicano Mifel on Wednesday, winning their second-round clash 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4 in just under two hours.

“Bernie is a very good player. Perhaps I was a bit more confident on big points because I had already played a match,” Lajovic said. “The balls were flying quite a bit and he was having a tough time controlling the ball at the end of the third set. I was able to use that.”

“It was a good match,” Tomic said. “[Lajovic] was going for his shots and deserved the win, for sure. It’s a beautiful tournament. It’s a shame I lost today but I am looking forward to coming back next year.”

Lajovic will next face seventh-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, a winner of 13 ATP World Tour titles, who downed countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6(4), 6-3 in one hour and 42 minutes.

Top seed Feliciano Lopez will look to deny Julien Benneteau the 250th match win of his career on Thursday when the pair meet for a place in the semi-finals. Lopez lost five of his first service points and saved all four break points he faced in a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over 18-uear-old Reilly Opelka in 87 minutes. Benneteau, 34, hit 13 aces to beat Zeballos 6-1, 6-7(1), 6-1.

Santiago Giraldo, who is currently No. 137 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, scored a 7-6(1), 6-3 second-round upset over No. 4 seed Sam Querrey. The Colombian survived 12 aces and moved into the quarter-finals in 83 minutes. He will next face Pablo Carreno-Busta.

Giraldo, who won consecutive tour-level matches on hard court for the first time in 2016, secured 80 per cent of first-serve points and only faced two break points (1/2). The 28 year old broke Querrey twice (2/6) to improve to 2-3 in the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry.

“It’s hot at all of these summer tournaments. I’m used to it, but it can still be difficult,” said Querrey, who is planning on staying in Los Cabos a little longer to fine-tune his game. “I’ll be out here practicing tomorrow morning. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some wins in Cincinnati and Winston Salem, and get some momentum going.”

Carreno Busta eased past American Austin Krajicek 6-0, 6-3 in under one hour. The Spanish wild card lost only two first-serve points and converted all five break points opportunities.

Ivo Karlovic, the third seed, saw off Mischa Zverev 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to set up a quarter-final meeting with Marcel Granollers, a 7-6(2), 6-2 winner over Tobias Kamke. Karlovic landed 69 per cent of first serves and blasted 18 aces to oust qualifier Zverev.

Lindstedt/Qureshi Beaten In Opener

Spaniards David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco, who have a 6-4 record in ATP World Tour doubles finals, knocked out second seeds Robert Lindstedt and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 7-6(6), 6-3 in 84 minutes for a place in the quarter-finals. They will face Almagro and Marcelo Demoliner.

Elsewhere, Jonathan Erlich and Ken Skupski saved three match points against Swedes Johan Brunstrom and Andreas Siljestrom 2-6, 6-0, 13-11 in 77 minutes. Erlich and Skupski saved match points at 7/9 and 10/11 in the Match tie-break.