Klizan Makes Quick Work of Wessels In Hamburg

Seventh seed Martin Klizan raced through his second-round bout with wild card Louis Wessels 6-1, 6-1 as the bottom half of the German Tennis Championships 2016 singles draw vied for their quarter-final berths on Thursday.

The Slovak, already a champion this year (Rotterdam, d. Monfils), secured his place in the quarter-finals of this ATP World Tour 500 event in 50 minutes.

“I’m very happy, especially to come back from injury to make the quarter-finals for the first time [at the ATP World Tour 500-level] since Rotterdam,” said Klizan. “I feel very good and I look forward to playing tomorrow.”

The Slovak will next play Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver. a 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-6(2) winner over qualifier Daniil Medvedev. The World No. 56 battled for more than three hours to down his Russian opponent by converting on his third match point.

Frenchman Stephane Robert also advanced, defeating Inigo Cervantes 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 in their second-round encounter. The 36-year-old Frenchman Robert is enjoying a resurgence this season, climbing back into the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings (No. 83) after dropping as low as No. 558 in 25 May 2015. He will next meet another Spaniard, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, for a place in the Hamburg last four.

Watch Robert Hot Shot

Garcia-Lopez booked his seventh quarter-final of 2016 after victory over Slovenia’s Grega Zemlja 6-2, 6-2 in 73 minutes. The eighth seed, bidding for his second semi-final appearance in 2016 (l. to Verdasco in Bucharest), improved to 2-0 in FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings with Zemlya.

“[Robert] has a good, flat backhand and it will be tough to take initiative during the points, but if I do so then I have chances to win,” said Garcia-Lopez of his next opponent. “I will try to do my best tomorrow.”

Seeds Fall In Doubles QFs
Top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Alexander Peya fell in two sets to Guillermo Duran and Jonathan Erich 6-2, 7-6(2) in an 84-minute affair, while third seeds Daniel Nestor and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi booked a berth in the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 4-6 [10-2] victory over Colin Fleming and Mariusz Fyrstenberg in 73 minutes.