Korolev had a chance to get back to 4-4 but Luzzi saved it with an ace and held for 5-3 before breaking again to win 7-5, 0-6, 6-3. What a strange match !
Ben Becker trying to usurp Rafa as ATP's resident pirate!
Lol, I initally thought the same thing. His back-to-front red baseball cap merged with the large red stripe down his back making it look like he was wearing a massive red bandana
I was amazed he got beaten by Dlouhy, only got to see snippets of that match. From what I saw, Becker's serve wasn't working aswell as it normally does as Dlouhy seems to work the rallies better.
Cervenak then knocked out Starace [which will make Slabba feel good, having given Cervenak a close match in Nottingham a few weeks ago ], 6-3, 6-7, 7-6.
Mertinak also came back from a set down to defeat Tipsarevic in a final set breaker, Tipsarevic outpowered Mertinak in the 1st set, the Slovak made too many errors from the back aswell. I missed the 2nd set but Tipsarevic was holding a lot more easily in the final set but Mertinak was a lot more solid from the baseline. Tipsarevic had chances to get the break, 2 bps in one game, but Mertinak played the big points superbly. In the final set breaker, Tippy made too many errors, looked a bit jaded by the end.
I was disappointed as I'd been looking forward to a Tippy-Sluiter quarter-final.