Sousa, Johnson Reach Valencia QFs
Steve Johnson maintained his run of form on Thursday by recording his 35th match win of 2015 for a place in the Valencia Open quarter-finals against sixth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or qualifier Taro Daniel.
Johnson, who finished runner-up to David Ferrer in last week’s Vienna final, defeated second seed Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 7-6(3) in 75 minutes. Johnson came within two points of winning when he served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but Lopez broke back to force a tie-break. Lopez recovered from 0/3 to 3/3 in the tie-break, but lost the next four points.
Qualfier Mischa Zverev reached his second ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season by beating fourth seed Fabio Fognini, ranked 197 places higher than him in the Emirates ATP Rankings, 6-2, 7-6(3) in 78 minutes. Zverev will next face seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who kept home hopes alive with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over wild card Andrey Rublev.
Another qualifier, Daniel Brands, lost just five of his service points in a 6-2, 6-2 win over lucky loser Albert Montanes, a replacement for top seed and three-time champion David Ferrer. He’ll play Vasek Pospisil on Friday.
Later in the day, Joao Sousa converted five of his 18 break point opportunities to oust fifth seed Benoit Paire 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
Doubles Seeds Fall In Valencia
The No. 2-seeded duo of Lukasz Kubot and Leander Paes were upset by Chris Guccione and Andre Sa 7-6(6), 6-4, and Americans Eric Butorac/Scott Lipsky were 6-4, 6-3 winners over Andre Bergemann and Artem Sitak.