Sousa Stays Hot In Gstaad

Fifth seed Joao Sousa took another step in turning around his season on Tuesday, beating Belgian Steve Darcis 6-4, 6-4 at the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad.

The Portuguese saved both break points and will meet Italian qualifier Gian Marco Moroni, who dismissed Spanish wild card Tommy Robredo 6-2, 6-2.

Sousa improved to 17-21 on the season, but he’s 6-2 in his last eight matches. The 30-year-old right-hander reached his second Round of 16 at a Grand Slam at Wimbledon (l. to Nadal) and the quarter-finals at the Swedish Open in Bastad last week.

Spain’s Jaume Munar will meet countryman and top seed Roberto Bautista Agut after rallying from a slow start against Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Munar, a semi-finalist at last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, fell to the Wimbledon semi-finalist last year in Gstaad in three sets, their only FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter.

In other action, Japan’s Taro Daniel won 71 per cent (10/14) of his second-serve points to beat Italian qualifier Filippo Baldi 6-4, 6-4 and will next face 2014 champion Pablo Andujar of Spain.

Albert Ramos-Vinolas will meet fellow Spaniard and second seed Fernando Verdasco for a second straight week after routing Swiss Henri Laaksonen 6-0, 6-3, and Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin will try to slow down Dusan Lajovic, last week’s Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag champion, after holding off Swiss wild card Marc-Andrea Huesler 6-3, 7-6(0).