Third seed Richard Gasquet tore through his Shenzhen Open second round on Wednesday, dismissing qualifier Andrew Whittington 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 minutes.
The Frenchman lost only eight points on serve and broke Whittington five times as he sealed his 27th win of the season. The 30-year-old Gasquet is looking to get back on track after a disappointing recent stretch, which saw him forced out of Toronto with a rib injury and suffer a first-round exit to Kyle Edmund at the US Open.
Next up for Gasquet will be Mischa Zverev, who reached his first ATP World Tour quarter-final in almost a year on Wednesday as he upset seventh seed Fabio Fognini 7-6(3), 6-4.
Zverev, who came through qualifying, fired 10 aces and won 79 per cent of his service points as he claimed victory in 81 minutes. His last quarter-final showing came in Valencia last year, where he also defeated Fognini before falling to Roberto Bautista Agut.
Mischa’s younger brother, 19-year-old Alexander Zverev, was forced to withdraw from this ATP World Tour 250 tournament, citing fatigue after arriving late from St. Petersburg, where he won his first ATP World Tour title on Sunday (d. Wawrinka).
[ALSO LIKE]
Thomas Fabbiano was the lucky loser to replace Zverev and the Italian made good on his opportunity as he defeated Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in just under two hours in the first round.
Fognini was not the only seed to exit on Wednesday. Malek Jaziri ousted second seed David Goffin 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-2 in just over two hours. The Tunisian is through to his second ATP World Tour quarter-final in as many weeks after reaching the last eight in Metz (l. to Simon).
"I'm really happy today for my win," said Jaziri. "I've played very good the last few weeks and now I'm keeping the positive results up here. David is playing really well this year, so it was a very good win and hopefully I can continue."
Goffin was coming off a semi-final showing in Metz (l. to Pouille) and dropped to a 38-19 match record on the season.
Jaziri goes on to face Janko Tipsarevic, who battled past Benoit Paire 6-0, 6-7(5), 7-5 in two hours and 29 minutes. After a dominant first set, Tipsarevic was pegged back as Paire fought to level the match. The Frenchman then served for the match at 5-4 in the decider, but was broken to 15 as Tipsarevic claimed the final three games of the contest, converting his third match point.
Second Seeds Reach Semis
Second seeds Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin reached the Shenzhen semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Mikhail Kukushkin and Stephane Robert. The Austrian/French duo are 15th in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London and are chasing their third title of the season after victories in Chennai and Delray Beach.
Elsewhere, third seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus opened their bid with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Chinese pairing Mao-Xin Gong and Ze Zhang.
DAY 4 PREVIEW: Defending champion and No. 1 seed Tomas Berdych begins his Shenzhen Open title defense Thursday against Mikhail Kukushkin. A model of consistency since 2010, Berdych has qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and finished at No. 6 or No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Rankings each of the last six seasons. Both of those streaks are in jeopardy because the Czech is currently No. 9 in the Emirates ATP Race to London. With only the Top 8 players assured a spot at The O2, Berdych could trim No. 8 Rafael Nadal’s lead from 580 to 330 points by repeating as Shenzhen champion. On the other side of Centre Court, Kukushkin looks to end a 10-match losing streak against Top 10 opponents (2-27 overall).
Berdych is one of three men who share the same first name on Thursday’s order of play, though none are spelled the same. Thomaz Bellucci and Thomas Fabbiano open the schedule with their first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. Fabbiano replaced No. 5 seed Alexander Zverev as a lucky loser on Wednesday only minutes before his first-round match against Yoshihito Nishioka, which the Italian won in three sets.
A pair of players born in 1992 will follow when No. 4 seed Bernard Tomic faces qualifier Ryan Harrison. It’s been more than 18 months since Harrison last reached a quarter-final at Acapulco, but the American has already earned three wins in Shenzhen. Tomic, on the other hand, has had a hard time putting together back-to-back victories at this level. The Aussie has received a first-round bye as a Top 4 seed at eight ATP World Tour 250 events in the last 12 months. He is 3-8 with all eight losses to lower-ranked opponents.