Jack Sock continued his outstanding finish to 2016 by reaching the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris on Thursday, ousting No. 12 seed and local favourite Richard Gasquet in a thrilling match, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
Next up for Sock is John Isner, who ended the inspired run of qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3. Struff was riding high after defeating third seed Stan Wawrinka on Wednesday night, but couldn't figure out a way to break Isner. The American has yet to drop serve in his 39 service games so far this week. Sock trails his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Isner 3-4, but has won their past two matches in straight sets.
Sock dropped just two points on serve in storming through the opening set, but Gasquet rebounded by grabbing the lone break of serve in the second set to level the match.
The final set saw returns feature a far more prominent role, with five breaks of serve in total. Gasquet saved two match points to hold serve at 4-5, but the American kept the pressure on his opponent and finally broke the Frenchman once more at 5-6 to wrap up the match in two hours and two minutes. He improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head record over Gasquet to 3-0.
The American’s winning ways have led to a heavy schedule over the past month. Competing in his fifth straight tournament this week, Sock has played 31 matches over the past 32 days, including doubles, and has only had six days off during this stretch. In addition to finishing runner-up two weeks ago in Stockholm (l. del Potro), he’s also racked up doubles titles in Basel (w/Granollers) and Shanghai (w/Isner), as well as finished runner-up in Beijing (w/Tomic).
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Fourth seed Milos Raonic rebounded strongly after a slow start to dismiss No. 16 seed Pablo Cuevas, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. The Uruguayan clinched the lone break of serve in the opening set, but Raonic provided no opportunities to get into the match afterwards. He fired 11 aces in the final two sets and continued to keep pressure on Cuevas’ serve, accumulating seven break points in total.
Awaiting Raonic in the quarter-finals is the winner of the match between fifth seed Kei Nishikori and No. 11 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Raonic is even in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Tsonga at 2-2, but has won their past two matches. He trails Nishikori 2-5 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry, but they haven’t played in more than a year.
