World number 14 David Goffin saved four match points as he beat Radu Albot 2-6 7-6(7) 7-6(7) to advance to the Quarter-Finals in Gstaad.
Despite the World number 132 breaking three time, twice more than Goffin he was unable to win the big points as he fell to the rusty Belgian in 2 hours and 35 minutes. Goffin managed to save 14 out of 17 break points which helped him stay in the contest and advance to the Quarter-Finals. The win also means that Goffin has recorded 33 match wins on the ATP World Tour.
He will now play sixth seed Robin Haase, who took care of Brazilian Thiago Monteiro 7-5, 7-5. Monteiro didn’t even create a single break point opportunity as Haase cruised into the last eight.
The other Quarter-Final match that was sealed for Friday was that unseeded veteran Denis Istomin will play second seed Roberto Bautista Agut. Istomin, who hasn’t done anything relevant since his win over Novak Djokovic in January, thumped German Dustin Brown 6-1 6-3 in 40 minutes. The match wasn’t really a contest as Istomin converted 80% of break points in the ruthless victory.
He will now play Bautista Agut who claimed a 6-4 6-3 victory over French qualifier Gleb Sakharov. The consistent Spaniard was too much for the world number 191 as he recorded his 30th victory on tour.
There were also first round matches that were delayed from previous days that took place today. The matches saw Swiss hopes come alive as Henri Laaksonen beat Thomaz Bellucci 7-6(2) 6-7(4) 7-5. In a match that saw 11 breaks of serve it was Laaksonen who broke in the 11th game of the third to effectively seal the contest which lasted just under three hours. The loss for the Brazilian means its six losses on the bounce for Bellucci. Henri Laaksonen plays Joao Sousa in the second round.
Other first round results saw fifth seed Paolo Lorenzi defeat Marco Chiudinelli 7-6(2) 6-3, while Ernests Gulbis beat German qualifier Daniel Brands 6-4 6-4. They will now play each other in the second round tomorrow.
