Monaco moves into Gstaad quarter-finals
Matosevic advances
GSTAAD, Switzerland, July 23, (Agencies): Juan Monaco held his nerve in a tight final set to upset third seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 on Wednesday for a second consecutive place in a quarter-final at the Swiss Open.
The Argentine, whose ranking has dropped to 105, won his sixth of eight meetings with Garcia-Lopez, whom he also beat in the second round in Gstaad a year ago. The unseeded South American missed his first chance to serve out victory in the concluding set but came through into the last eight on his second opportunity two games later, going through on his second match point.
A year ago, Monaco held a match point in his quarter-final against eventual Gstaad champion and current top seeded Mikhail Youzhny.
In Atlanta, Australian eighth seed Marinko Matosevic and Uzbek sixth seed Denis Istomin advanced to the second round of the $568,000 ATP Atlanta Open with straight-set triumphs Tuesday.
In the first American hardcourt warm-up event ahead of next month’s start of the US Open, Matosevic beat Dominican Victor Estrella Burgos 6-0, 6-2 while Istomin ousted US lucky loser Rajeev Ram 6-1, 6-4.
Next up for Matosevic is American Tim Smyczek, who ripped countryman Ryan Harrison 6-0, 6-2.
A victory in that second-round affair would send the Aussie against either US top-seeded defending champion John Isner, who received a first-round bye, or American wildcard Robby Ginepri, who outlasted Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-0.
Istomin booked a second-round date with Slovakian Lukas Lacko, who downed US wildcard Nathan Pasha 62, 7-5.
American Jack Sock beat Colombia’s Alejandro Gonzalez 6-2, 64 and will face Aussie qualifier Michael Venus, who replaced third seed Gael Monfils after the Frenchman pulled out due to injury.