Gasquet Battles Back In Båstad

Fourth seed Richard Gasquet survived an intense battle on Thursday at the Swedish Open, rallying from a set down in Båstad to reach the quarter-finals over Austrian Dennis Novak 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Gasquet returned to action in May after missing the first four months of the year due to groin surgery. He improved to 8-6 this season after breaking Novak five times to advance in two hours and three minutes.

Next up for Gasquet is sixth-seeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero, who scored a marathon 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Bolivian Hugo Dellien. Londero, who won his first ATP Tour title this February at the Cordoba Open (d. Pella), served to stay in the match at 4-5 in the second set. The Argentine beat Gasquet in their lone FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting two months ago at Roland Garros.

Eighth seed Joao Sousa dashed the hopes of local favourite Elias Ymer by winning the last five games of their match to advance 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. The 2014 runner-up (l. to Cuevas) is on a high after becoming the first Portuguese player to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Awaiting Sousa in the quarter-finals is Argentine Federico Delbonis, who took out third seed and 2014 champion Pablo Cuevas 6-4, 6-4. Their match featured eight service breaks in the first 13 games, but Delbonis settled in midway through the second set to oust the Uruguayan in one hour and 23 minutes.

Sousa leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Delbonis 3-2 and has won their past two matches.