Spanish second seed Feliciano Lopez crashed out of the $450,000 ATP Chennai Open on Thursday in a stunning second-round loss to qualifier Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia. The world number 14 looked rusty in his first match of the season as he tamely went down 6-4, 6-4 to the 156th-ranked Bedene in an hour and 25 minutes at the Nungambakkam tennis stadium.
Two other Spaniards, third seed Roberto Bautista-Agut and number five Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, advanced to the quarter-finals. The 15th-ranked Bautista-Agut proved too strong for number 102 Peter Gojowczyk of Germany, cruising to a 6-3, 6-2 win in an hour and 10 minutes. Bautista-Agut, a finalist in Chennai in 2013, struggled with his first serve and double-faulted four times, but six aces and strong volleys from the baseline helped him dominate the German.
The 31-year-old Garcia-Lopez fought back after losing the first set to oust Tatsuma Ito of Japan 6-7 (1-7), 6-2, 6-0 in two hours on an outside court. "My game picked up as the match went on, so I am happy the way it went in the end," said Garcia-Lopez, who finished 36th last year. "At my age, I probably have to work harder than others." In Friday's quarter-finals, Garcia-Lopez will take on Bedene. Taiwanese veteran Yen Hsun-Lu rode past Pablo Carreno-Busta of Spain 6-4, 6-4 in 73 minutes to set up a quarter-final clash against Bautista-Agut.
Comments
Comments are closed.