Austrian Stefan Koubek, who won the Delray Beach International title in 2000, took out eighth-seeded Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-4, 6-3 in a late match on Wednesday.
“I’m moving pretty well,” said Koubek, who had spinal surgery in May. “I have good feeling on this court. I can go for my shots even if it’s windy.”
Lu was unable to reproduce the form that a day earlier had propelled him to a first-round victory over former world no. 1 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia.
PHOTO: EPA
The 59th-ranked Lu now has a 4-4 record in ATP matches this year.
Meanwhile Christophe Rochus of Belgium upset second-seeded American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-1 on Wednesday.
“I played good, he played bad,” Rochus said. “He wasn’t serving big and when I played fast, he was in trouble.”
PHOTO: AP
The 60th-ranked Rochus played a smart game to challenge the taller Querrey, who midway through the match wandered around the court.
“He played well, he comes up with good shots,” Querrey said. “He comes to the net. He has those cocky, arrogant backhand drop shots, it’s annoying.”
The 34th-ranked Querrey started the match with a 3-1 lead, but his serve, usually solid, was unreliable all night.
PHOTO: AFP
Querrey had an overall first serve rate of 49 percent and was at 38 percent on first serve in the first set.
Rochus, who also made the quarter-finals at Memphis, used a crafty mix of shot-making to prevent Querrey from finding any rhythm in the match.
Querrey led 3-1 in the match, but Rochus went on to win 11 of the next 13 games.
Five of the eight seeds have already been eliminated: Querrey, Lu, third-seeded Ernests Gulbis, fifth-seeded Steve Darcis and fourth-seeded Igor Kunitsyn.
Earlier, qualifier Evgeny Korolev of Russia defeated American Robert Kendrick 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to move into today’s quarter-finals.
Korolev was due to play 83rd-ranked Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain in the last eight.
The Spaniard rallied for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 win over the 79th-ranked Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.
Additional reporting by staff writer
■DUBAI CHAMPIONSHIPS
AP, DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray led the top six seeds into the quarter-finals of the Dubai Championships on Wednesday.
Top-seeded Djokovic had to fight back from a break down in the last set to beat Jan Hernych of Czech Republic 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 over more than two hours, while second-seeded Murray cruised past Arnaud Clement of France 6-2, 6-3.
Djokovic, yet to reach a final this year, will next play fifth-seeded Marin Cilic, who already has two titles this season in Chennai and Zagreb. Cilic overcame Julien Benneteau of France 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in his second straight three-setter.
Next up for Murray will be unseeded Richard Gasquet of France, who took more than three hours to edge Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Third-seeded Gilles Simon of France dispatched Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-1, 6-2 to set up a quarter-final with countryman Fabrice Santoro, who beat qualifier Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (1).
The other quarter-final pits fourth-seeded David Ferrer against sixth-seeded Igor Andreev.
Spain’s Ferrer beat Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2, and Andreev topped fellow Russian Dmitry Tursunov 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
■MEXICAN OPEN
AP, ACAPULCO, MEXICO
Defending champion Nicolas Almagro endured more than two-and-a-half hours on clay to reach the Mexican Open quarter-finals, but two-time winner Carlos Moya lost in the second round on Wednesday.
Almagro hit 18 aces to Potito Starace’s three, but went serve for serve with the Italian before finishing off a 7-6 (1), 6-7 (5), 6-3 win. Almagro made the decisive break for 4-2 in the third set.
In his fourth successive quarter-finals in Acapulco, Almagro will play Spanish countryman Daniel Gimeno-Traver.
Not so fortunate was compatriot and eighth-seeded Moya.
Meeting 110th-ranked Leonardo Mayer of Argentina for the first time, Moya lost 6-4, 7-5, squandering four break chances.
In the women’s draw, second-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy cruised past Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier 6-1, 6-3.
Eighth-seeded Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain was tripped up by Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 for a third time, while fifth-seeded Gisela Dulko, the Bogota runner-up, was upset by Maret Ani of Estonia 7-6 (6), 6-3.
Iveta Benesova, the champion five years ago, survived Klara Zakopalova 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3), in an all-Czech match.
SIBLING RIVALRY: Marc Marquez was locked in a duel with his little brother, falling behind at one point before recovering for his first season-opening victory since 2014 Six-time world champion Marc Marquez yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening Thailand Grand Prix to complete a dominant debut weekend at his new Ducati Lenovo Team, having also romped to Saturday’s sprint. The Spanish great took the 26-lap grand prix by 1.732 seconds for his 63rd MotoGP victory from younger brother Alex Marquez, who is still seeking a first checkered flag, with Francesco Bagnaia third to complete an all-Ducati podium. It completed a perfect weekend for Marc Marquez, who took pole position, the sprint victory and the grand prix win for a maximum 37 points to open the 22-leg 2025 campaign. He led from
AC Milan’s slender hopes of reaching next season’s UEFA Champions League took another hit on Thursday with a 2-1 defeat at Bologna which left them eight points from Serie A’s top four. Sergio Conceicao’s team sit eighth, some way behind fourth-placed Juventus after losing an entertaining contest at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, a match which was rescheduled from October last year due to torrential rain and flooding. Swathes of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, much of which is fertile agricultural land, had been left under water following a massive autumn downpour. Dan Ndoye prodded home the decisive goal in the 82nd minute
VALUABLE POINT: Relegation-threatened Valencia snatched a thrilling 3-3 draw at CA Osasuna thanks to a remarkable backheel volley by Umar Sadiq Barcelona on Sunday secured a comfortable 4-0 win over Real Sociedad to move back top of La Liga. Aritz Elustondo’s early red card gave Hansi Flick’s side a comfortable afternoon, with Gerard Martin, Marc Casado, Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski on the score sheet. Atletico Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao on Saturday to temporarily knock the Catalans from their perch, while Real Madrid, third, lost at Real Betis Balompie. Flick was able to rotate his side a little ahead of the UEFA Champions League round-of-16 visit to face SL Benfica tomorrow and still move one point above Atletico. “There were a lot of things that
Former Australian motorcycle gang member-turned-golfer Ryan Peake, who served a lengthy jail term for assault, yesterday produced a “life-changing” maiden win to qualify for The Open Championship. Peake held his nerve for a one-stroke victory at the New Zealand Open, earning him a berth at the major in Portrush, Northern Ireland, in July, pending clearance to travel as a convicted criminal. The 31-year-old from Perth celebrated animatedly and was showered with champagne by friends on the 18th green of the Millbrook Resort course near Queenstown after a redemption story rarely seen in the refined sport of golf. Peake held back tears as he
RSS