Tennis
Anderson on course for title
2011-02-03 18:22
On court and on course: Kevin Anderson. (Gallo)
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Johannesburg - Fourth-seeded home favourite Kevin
Anderson and sixth-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France avoided the curse
of the seeded players at the SA Tennis Open to reach the quarterfinals
on Thursday.
Anderson stayed on course for a first career ATP title, with a straight-sets win over Dudi Sela.
He
was followed into the last eight by Mannarino, the only other seeded
player left in the tournament, after the Frenchman's 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4
win over Denis Gremelmayr of Germany.
Mannarino and Gremelmayr
both struggled in their night match at Montecasino, sharing 109
unforced errors before the 67th-ranked Mannarino finished strongest, and
won with an ace on his second match point.
Mannarino is also hunting a first ATP title.
South
African No. 1 Anderson needed just over an hour for his 6-2, 6-4 win.
He hit 13 aces to just one from the Israeli, in a clinical performance,
for his first win in three meetings with Sela.
"It definitely
felt pretty good out there," Anderson said. "I wasn't on edge, I felt
very comfortable. I didn't give him any chances on my service games."
Anderson
gave up just one break and converted four out of his five break points
to stroll through. He is the man to beat after a parade of seeded
players, including defending champion Feliciano Lopez of Spain, crashed
out in the opening round of the high-altitude Johannesburg tournament.
"It's
tough to pick the winners in the altitude," he said. "It's tricky, and
definitely can come down to a few points. But I'm looking forward to
the rest of the tournament, I'm going to go out and enjoy it."
Anderson
will meet unseeded Slovak Karol Beck, who eventually prevailed 3-6,
7-5, 6-0 in a topsy-turvy match with Japan's Go Soeda. It will be the
first ATP quarterfinal since 2005 for the No. 100-ranked Beck.
Frank
Dancevic, who dumped out Lopez, is playing South African wild card
Fritz Wolmarans in Thursday's late match, with the winner to meet
Mannarino in the quarters.
Results from the fourth day of the ATP South African Open (x denotes seeding):
Karol Beck (SVK) bt Go Soeda (JPN) 3-6, 7-5, 6-0
Kevin Anderson (RSA x4) bt Dudi Sela (ISR) 6-2, 6-4
Adrian Mannarino (FRA x6) bt Denis Gremelmayr (GER) 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-4