Top Seed Ferrer Advances In ‘s-Hertogenbosch

Top seed David Ferrer saved 10 of 13 break points faced in defeating Israel’s Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the Ricoh Open on Thursday. The 2008 and 2012 champion at the ATP World Tour 250 grass-court tournament raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set, then hung on to serve out the win on his third match point. The return of serve was the weapon of choice for both players, who traded eight breaks of serve and just two aces.

“I have very good memories here, having won twice… I thought it was a good way to start my grass season,” Ferrer told Tennis.nl. “I am trying to break back into the Top 10. There are many good players out there like David Goffin, Dominic Thiem and Nick Kyrgios. I know that I am 34 years old, but I still enjoy playing tennis and I hope to have a good grass-court season.”

Facing the Spaniard in the quarter-finals will be Gilles Muller, who struck 13 aces in dismissing Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5, 6-1. The left-hander from Luxembourg saved both break points faced and avenged his grass-court loss against Garcia-Lopez at Queen’s in 2009. The pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head series is now tied at two.

Third seed Ivo Karlovic defeated Dutch wild card Igor Sijsling 7-6(4), 7-6(5) to advance. The 6’11” Croatian’s favourite shot was working well, as he landed 70 per cent of first serves and fired 20 aces in the 84-minute win.

The 28-year-old Sijsling, No. 118 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, lost the match despite never facing break point. He battled to 4-4 in the first-set tie-break before seeing his opponent sweep the next three points. In the second set, he earned the lone break point of the match on Karlovic’s serve at 2-2, but could not convert. The more experienced Karlovic, aged 37 and currently No. 28 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, went up 6-3 in the second-set tie-break and closed out his fifth win of the year on his third match point.

Up next for the towering Karlovic is Adrian Mannarino, who beat qualifier Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-2 in under an hour. The Frenchman, who stands a full foot shorter than Karlovic, used guile rather than power to prevail. He lost just three first-serve points and did not face a break point.