Davydenko and Sijsling also move through to tomorrow’s singles quarterfinals;
Top three seeds in the doubles move into semifinals
Top seed Spaniard David Ferrer swept past Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 23 minutes in today’s Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2012 second round match at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
The 29-year-old world No. 5 took some time to warm up to the courts before hitting his stride against the 27-year-old world No. 90 Russian. He struggled a little with his first serve at only 50% but took control with 76% of second service points won.
“It was a difficult match. The first set was close but after I won the set, I was better and more consistent,” said Ferrer, who will face surprise package Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands in the quarters.
“I have played him a few times. Few weeks ago, I beat him in the US Open and it was a tough match, so I will have to play really good against him,” said the Spaniard who is having the best year of his career in 2012 with five titles and numerous semifinal appearances.
Second seed world No. 11 Juan Monaco saw off the challenge of wild card Jimmy Wang 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 48 minutes to move into tomorrow’s quarterfinals.
Wang had a poor first serve percentage of 57% and double faulted four times, winning only 52% of points on serve. But 28-year-old Monaco, too, struggled a little for form with a number of poor serve returns and was still getting used to the indoor courts in his debut match here in Kuala Lumpur.
But whenever the 27-year-old Wang got into a decent position in the match, he would crumble under the nerves and struggled most with his backhand returns, which the Argentinean consistently attacked towards the end to take the victory.
“It’s my first match on indoor courts so overall it was an okay match for me. I am happy with the way I ended the match,” said Monaco, who is a clay court specialist.
Monaco will meet Canadian surprise package Vasek Pospisil tomorrow, whom he beat in the Rogers Cup last month, and said of the match: “It will be a difficult match as he has nothing to lose. We played a tough match in Toronto last month as well.”
Third seeded Japanese and Asian number one Kei Nishikori came from a set down to defeat world No.48 Ramos 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-1 in an epic two hour and 12 minute second round encounter.
In a first set peppered with long, high quality rallies, neither player was able to break the other’s serve game, and although 22-year-old Nishikori twice came back from 3-0 and 5-2 down in the first tie-break, he could not prevent the Spaniard from taking the first set.
After swapping breaks early in the second set, Nishikori got the decisive break in the sixth game en route to shutting his opponent out in the remainder of the set.
The pattern continued in the third set as the deflated 24-year-old Ramos was unable to match the court movement of his opponent and struggled to find the power serving form that saw him rack up 14 aces in the first round, only making two in the match.
In the end, Nishikori showed him how it was done with an ace on second serve to wrap the match up and set up his quarterfinal encounter with Davydenko.
Number four seeded Ukrainian world No. 20 Alexandr Dolgopolov’s much anticipated debut in the Malaysian Open 2012 fell short of expectations when he lost 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 to Colombian Alejandro Falla in one hour and 31 minutes on Centre Court.
The 23-year-old Dolgopolov beat Falla in Brisbane earlier this year, but struggled to control his mercurial forehand as he acclimatised to the pace of the court, allowing mistakes to creep into his game.
“I started really bad and missed a lot of balls. I came back in the second set but it was an up and down match. I am not too happy with it,” said Dolgopolov after the match.
Falla, who is known as a little bit of a giant killer with nine Top 20 wins to his name (now ten), will meet Frenchmen Julien Benneteau tomorrow, and currently trails 2-1 head to head after defeats in 2006 and 2008.
In one of the closest fought singles matches in the tournament so far, Dutchman Igor Sijsling served a second round upset over fifth seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (7-2) in one hour and 31 minutes.
Both players played impeccably on serve, racking up 11 aces each, and neither was able to break each other’s serve throughout the match, except during the tie-breaks, where 31-year-old world No. 32 Lopez crumbled both times, allowing the lower ranked Sijsling (No. 97) to capitalise.
Malaysian Open 2009 champion and former world No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, moved into the quarterfinals for the third time in four attempts in this tournament after defeating Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-5, 6-4 in one hour and 41 minutes.
In a match where both men struggled to hit their best form, the world No. 44 won the points that mattered against his opponent ranked just two spaces below at No. 46. As the 26-year-old Istomin mounted a late fight back in the tenth game of the second set, Davydenko saved the break point to end the contest in straight sets.
The Russian, who is coming in on good form after making the semifinal in Metz last week, lost to Nishikori in the second round of this year’s Olympics and said he would be pleased to face the Asian number one again.
“They are both good base line players. I lost to Nishikori in the Olympics and I would like to meet him again,” said the 31-year-old.
All singles quarterfinal matches take place tomorrow on Centre Court, starting from 2:15pm with Pospisil and Monaco kicking things off.
TOP THREE SEEDS IN DOUBLES MOVE INTO SEMIFINALS
Meanwhile in the doubles quarterfinals, it was business as usual for the top three seeds.
Top seeded Polish pair Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg overcame a one set deficit to defeat the surprisingly effective scratch-pairing of Canadian Vasek Pospisil and Sanam Singh of India, with the super-tie breaker match ending 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 in one hour and 25 minutes.
Second seeds Daniele Bracciali of Italy and Marcelo Melo of Brazil also booked their semifinal spot with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 victory over the German pairing of Michael Khlmann and Frank Moser.
They will meet third seeded Austrian-Brazilian pair Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares, who moved on as expected into Saturday’s semifinal with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Nikolay Davydenko and Belgian Dick Norman.
In the only upset, the Great Britain duo of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins ended the challenge of fourth seeded Austrian-Slovakian pairing of Julian Knowle and Filip Polasek with a 6-3, 2-6, 10-4 super-tie breaker victory lasting one hour and 18 minutes. The Great Britons were strong on serve and served up eight aces in the course of victory.
In the only doubles semifinal clash taking place tomorrow, it will be the battle of Great Britain against Poland as Fleming and Hutchins attempt to prevent Matkowski and Fyrstenberg from making their third appearance in a Malaysian Open doubles final.
The tournament is supported by the Ministry of Tourism Malaysia and Tourism Malaysia and sponsors that include Rado, CNN International, the DoubleTree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur, Wilson, 100 Plus, the Albukhary Foundation, Astro and the ATP World Tour’s Premier Partner Corona. The event is sanctioned by the Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia.
Tickets can be purchased by visiting the official website, www.MalaysianOpenTennis.com.
