Marin Cilic, of Croatia, reacts to a play against Sam Querrey during the Citi Open tennis tournament, Thursday, August 6, 2015, in Washington. And while the second proved a tighter affair, the continual flow of winners from Pavlyuchenkova’s racquet began to take its toll on Bencic, who at 3-3 double faulted to surrender the decisive break. Groth delivered 20 aces in a 6-3, 6-4 victory over seventh-seeded Feliciano Lopez.
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“I was returning well, and that’s why I could break once each set”, Nishikori said.
Sam Groth will get the best gauge yet of his hardcourt form when he takes on last year’s US Open finalist Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals of the ATP’s Washington Open.
Groth’s quarter-final berth matched countrywoman Samantha Stosur, who faces a last-eight clash with Monica Niculescu after beating American irina Falconi.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori defeated Leonardo Mayer of Argentina in straight sets on Thursday to advance to the Citi Open quarterfinals for the second year in a row.
“I have been training hard and looking forward to playing this week”, Nishikori said of his return to competition after withdrawing from a second-round match at Wimbledon due to a left calf injury.
In women’s play, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russian Federation eliminated third-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-2, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals.
“I’ve got to hold serve and I’ve got to build pressure around that and I’ve got to make him feel uncomfortable”. The 40th-ranked Pavlyuchenkova, the runner-up at the hard-court tuneup for the U.S. Open in 2012, now meets Christina McHale of the United States. “I was pleased with my aggression”.
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The first half of 2015 has not exactly gone to plan for Pavlyuchenkova, but the return to her favored hardcourts has brought with it a change in fortunes. I’m going to attack the net.
