Winston-Salem - Top seeded Richard Gasquet defeated French compatriot
Stephane Robert in straight sets 6-1, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the
ATP Tour's Winston-Salem Open on Wednesday.
Gasquet saved seven of eight break points and broke the
unseeded Robert's serve five times in the hard-court tournament in North
Carolina.
"I've known Stephane for a long time now, so I know how
dangerous he can be," Gasquet said.
"He likes to play close to the baseline. We've
practised together often, so I know his game and he knows mine. I didn't make
many mistakes today, and that was the difference."
Gasquet will next face Australia's John Millman, who came
from behind to win 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 against wild card Bjorn Fratangelo.
Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun advanced to his fourth straight
Winston-Salem quarter-final with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Argentina's Diego Schwartzman.
"Fortunately I played really well on game points and on
break points," Lu said. "My serve was there when I needed it, and
that helped me a lot today."
Next up for Lu will be number two seed Roberto Bautista
Agut, of Spain, who defeated Cyprus' Marcos Baghdatis 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Fifteenth-seeded Fernando Verdasco fired 10 aces as he
rolled over fourth seeded American Steve Johnson of the Unites States 6-4, 7-6
(9/7).
In the quarter-finals, Verdasco will face Serbia's Viktor
Troicki, who toppled American Sam Querrey 6-2, 7-6 (7/5).
Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia advanced when Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic retired at 5-5 in the first set.
Results from the ATP Winston-Salem tournament on Wednesday (x denotes seeded player):
3rd rd
Richard Gasquet (FRA x1) bt Stephane Robert (FRA) 6-1, 6-3
John Millman (AUS) bt Bjorn Fratangelo (USA) 5-7, 6-0, 6-3
Lu Yen-Hsun (TPE) bt Diego Schwartzman (ARG) 6-4, 6-0
Pablo Carreo-Busta (ESP x16) bt Pablo Cuevas (URU x3) 6-3, 7-6 (7/1)
Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS x12) bt Jir Vesel (CZE) 5-5 abandon
Fernando Verdasco (ESP x15) bt Steve Johnson (USA x4) 6-4, 7-6 (9/7)
Roberto Bautista (ESP x2) bt Marcos Baghdatis (CYP x14) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
Viktor Troicki (SRB x9) bt Sam Querrey (USA x6) 6-2, 7-6 (7/5)