Kevin Anderson seems to be out of the woods with his shoulder and knee injury, as he wins his second match in a row on ATP level for the first time this year. Anderson put out a literally flawless service performance in the first set. He won all 20 points on his serve, and also breaking in the second game to win the first set 6-3. Verdasco, who upset Wawrinka last week, was better in the second set, but Anderson still pushed him enough to get break points. The set went into a tiebreak which was very well played by both, but Anderson won the match in straight sets.
Second seed Pablo Cuevas broke Daniel Evans for 3-2 in the opening set, only to be broken back. Despite the big ranking difference, Evans more than held his own. In the first set tiebreak, the Brit lead throughout and took the tiebreak 7-4. Evans broke for 5-3, but failed when serving for the match. The second set headed into a tiebreak as well without almost any breaks. Cuevas took the second set tiebreak 7-5. The final set was very level between the players, but Cuevas broke for 5-4. Cuevas then served the match out after grueling 2 hours and 26 minutes.
The only upset of the day was 9th seed Marcos Baghdatis’ comeback against Sam Querrey, saving 2 match points. The American took the first set 6-1, and had the match points in the second set tiebreak. Baghdatis won the tiebreak 10-8, and took the final set 6-4. He will face Pablo Cuevas in the quarterfinals. Kevin Anderson’s opponent will be 6th seed Steve Johnson, who defeated Vasek Pospisil in two tiebreaks.
Other two quarterfinal matches are between 7th seed Andreas Seppi, and the only unseeded quarterfinalist, grass expert Dudi Sela. Gilles Muller defeated Mikhail Youzhny in tough three sets, and will face the 4th seed Alexandr Dolgoplov. The Ukranian put a stop to the dream run of the qualifier Frank Dancevic.
