David Ferrer survives in three sets against Edouard Roger-Vasselin on Wednesday in Oeiras. Ferrer is joined in the quarterfinals by Pablo Carreno-Busta, a comeback winner over David Goffin.
(1) David Ferrer d. Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Ferrer could have closed this one out much earlier but he had to hang on late in the third set against Roger-Vasselin in the Spaniard’s Portugal Open debut that lasted one hour and 49 minutes on Wednesday afternoon. Oeiras’ top seed started off comfortably enough, losing a mere four points in five service games during the first set. One break allowed Ferrer to take the opener and he even raced to a 4-2, 40-0 advantage in the second.
With a win seemingly just moments away, the world No. 4 suddenly cracked. Roger-Vasselin won five consecutive points to break for 3-4 and that propelled him to a four-game streak. The 73rd-ranked Frenchman broke again for 5-4 and served it out in the 10th game to force a decider. Roger-Vasselin stayed on level terms until 3-4 in the third, when Ferrer’s fourth break of the day proved to be the difference. Ferrer finally closed out the match one game later to book a quarterfinal date with Victor Hanescu.
(Q) Pablo Carreno-Busta d. David Goffin 1-6, 6-2, 6-2
Carreno-Busta’s breakout 2013 campaign continued as he overcame Goffin in one hour and 54 minutes on Wednesday. The 21-year-old Spaniard, who has won seven Futures titles this season and is more than holding his own at the ATP level, got off to a slow start. In fact, he did not hold serve a single time in the first set and only got on the scoreboard by breaking his opponent once.
It was another disastrous serving day for Goffin, who was broken nine times in round one against Pedro Sousa. The 61st-ranked Belgian dropped serve seven times in this one, so it hardly mattered when he also led by a break early in the second. The rest of the way it was all Carreno-Busta, who held his final three service games after getting broken in the second game of the final set. The world No. 228 ended the proceedings in appropriate fashion–with a scalp of the Goffin serve at 5-2.
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