ATP Casablanca
Local wild card Lamine Ouahab continued a fantastical run at his home tournament the ATP Grand Prix Hassan II on Thursday, shocking top seed and world No 24 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in relatively simple fashion.
Ouahab, a 30-year-old veteran who has only once qualified for a grand slam, going out in the first round of the 2009 Australian Open, dismissed Garcia-Lopez in a straightforward 6-3, 6-3 match in Casablanca. Ouahab broke Garcia-Lopez in the fourth game of the first set and broke him three times in the second to run away into the tournament’s quarter-finals.
Ouahab, who reached a career high ranking of 114 in 2009, has never won an ATP title. His has in fact only played in 21 ATP level singles matches, compiling an 11-10 record. The Moroccan was a finalist at the 2002 junior Wimbledon and reacehd at least the quarter-finals of four other junior grand slams in 2001-02.
His senior career has been less than stellar, however, with just three ITF Challenger tour titles to his name. The most recent of those came at the Casablanca clay court tournament in January, which was his first since 2006.
Ouahab will now face world No 95 Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the quarters. By rankings, it will actually be his easiest challenge yet, after already beating world No 88 Robin Haase in the first round.
Gimeno-Traver advanced on Thursday himself when Mikhail Kukushkin retired down 1-6, 1-4.
Jiri Vesely, beating Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets, and Aljaz Bedene, also a straight sets winner over Arthur De Greef, round out Thursday’s other winners.
Second seed Martin Klizan and Nicolas Almagro and Andreas Haider-Maurer and Damir Dzumhur will vie in the other quarter-final matches on Friday.
ATP Houston
Unseeded American Jack Sock toppled second-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP US Clay Court Championships in Houston.
Sock, ranked 46th in the world, notched his second victory over the 15th-ranked Spaniard in less than a month.
He also beat Bautista Agut in the round of 32 in the Indian Wells Masters in March.
Sock, who lifted the doubles title with Vasek Pospisil in Indian Wells and reached the final with the Canadian at Miami last weekend, saved both break points he faced in the 1hr 21 min clash.
He broke the Spaniard once in each set to secure the win and next faces fifth-seeded Colombian Santiago Giraldo who toppled unseeded Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.
Tipsarevic, once ranked as high as eighth in the world, is on the comeback trail after missing 17 months in the wake of multiple surgeries on his left foot.
On Tuesday the Serb saved two match points en route to a three-set win over Guilherme Clezar.
Also taking the court Thursday were two former tournament winners, including defending champ Fernando Verdasco who beat South Korean teen Chung Hyeon in straight sets, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2.
But John Isner, who won two years ago, failed to advance, losing 2-6, 6-7 (2/7) to Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili.
Verdasco blasted two aces, had just one double fault and broke the 18-year-old Chung twice in the 92-minute match.
He moves on to play Gabashvili in the quarters.
Chung was the sixth teenager to qualify for an ATP tour event in 2015. The world No 118 qualified for his first Masters level main draw in Miami, winning his first-round match before falling to his first top-10 opponent, Czech Tomas Berdych.
WTA Charleston
Defending champion Andrea Petkovic booked her quarter-final berth at the WTA Family Circle Cup in Charleston on Thursday, improving her perfect record in the event with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Madison Brengle.
The third-seeded German improved to 10-0 on the green clay of Charleston, avenging her first-round loss to Brengle at the Australian Open.
Petkovic, ranked 11th in the world, is the highest-seeded player left in the draw after the second-round exit of top-seeded Canadian Eugenie Bouchard and the withdrawal of second-seeded Ekaterina Makarova with a stomach ailment.
Petkovic will next face qualifier Danka Kovinic of Montenegro, who reached the quarters when former champion and sixth seed Jelena Jankovic withdrew from their scheduled third-round match with a right foot injury.
Lauren Davis, who stunned Bouchard in straight sets on Wednesday, moved into the quarter-finals with an abbreviated victory over ailing Mona Barthel.
Davis was leading the 15th-seeded German 6-4, 3-0 when Barthel retired because of dizziness.
Although she hasn’t spent all that much time on court, the 66th ranked Davis said she was finding her feet on Charleston’s clay courts.
“I feel really comfortable on the clay here,” she said. “I feel like I’m sliding well and that my game really suits it well.”
Davis next faces seventh-seeded American Madison Keys. Keys, an Australian Open semi-finalist, defeated Romanian Cristina-Andreea Mitu 6-2, 6-0.
Davis and Keys are familiar foes. With their career head-to-head record tied at two victories apiece.
“We know each other really well,” Davis said. “For about a year and a half we shared the same coach ... I think we know each other’s games like the back of our hands, so it will all come down to who’s more competitive.”
Fourth-seeded Italian Sara Errani reached the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory over Spain’s 18-year-old Sara Sorribes Tormo.
Errani will face Czech Lucie Hradecka, who toppled French eighth seed Caroline Garcia 5-7, 7-5, 6-4.
Fifth-seeded German Angelique Kerber eased past Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena 6-3, 6-0 to line up a quarter-final meeting with Romania Irina-Camelia Begu. Begu advanced by walkover thanks to Makarova’s decision to pull out.
WTA Katowice
Top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska continued an unimpeded march at her home tournament on Thursday, beating An-Sophie Mestach 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the WTA Katowice Open.
Radwanska in two matches has only dropped eight games at the Poland tournament.
She was joined on Thursday in the quarter-finals by Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Elizaveta Kulichkova, who upset fifth seed Kaia Kanepi and Kirsten Flipkens.
Radwanska will face Klara Koukalova in the last eight on Friday. Second-seeded Alize Cornet matches up with Schmiedlova and third-seeded Camila Giorgi takes on Kulichkova.
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