David Ferrer won his opening match at the Malaysian Open 7-5, 6-3 over Radek Stepanek on Thursday night. Ferrer broke serve a whopping five times in 10 tries as he advanced to the quarterfinals after one hour and 31 minutes of play.
The 33-year-old Spaniard went from leading 3-1 in the first set to trailing 4-3 after dropping two consecutive service games. But he broke right back for 4-4 and never relinquished momentum the rest of the way. Although Ferrer failed to close out the proceedings at 5-1 in the second, the top seed had no trouble sealing the deal with a service hold at 5-3.
“This first match wasn’t easy,” Ferrer assessed. “I was feeling the jetlag a little bit, but it was the same for Radek. Now I will try to improve my game for tomorrow.”
The world No. 8 is joined in the quarters by Vasek Pospisil, a 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3 winner over Marcos Baghdatis. Pospisil, who had struggled physically in their previous meeting (a Baghdatis victory this summer in Atlanta), saw his disturbing trend of cramps continue. But the Canadian fought through it and managed to get the job this time around after two hours and 28 minutes.
Pospisil led by a set and a break before losing six of the last seven games in the middle frame of play. The decisive break came 1-0 in the third right after Baghdatis had missed a break-point opportunity of his own in the opening game of the decider.
“I didn’t really have a strategy,” Pospisil admitted. “I was just trying to stand on the court, be able to play the points, and try to win. When I saw the ball I just tried to hit it hard and keep the points short. I played well, but I was just trying to get through my service games somehow. I was fortunate, for sure, to have won that.”
Next up for Pospisil is No. 2 seed Feliciano Lopez, while Ferrer will face Mikhail Kukushkin on Friday.
[polldaddy poll=9105647]
[polldaddy poll=9104902]
Leave a Reply