The top five seeds have advanced to the quarterfinals in Indianapolis, led by top seed and 2006 winner James Blake, No. 2 Gilles Simon of France and No. 3/defending champion Dmitry Tursunov of Russia. First out on Stadium Court is No. 5 seed Tommy Haas against No. 2 Simon. Haas won both previous meetings two years ago in the first round of Halle and second round at ATP Masters Series Cincinnati.
Haas, 30, is the oldest player remaining in the draw and he’s playing in his first ATP quarterfinal since reaching this round at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells in March (withdrew vs. Federer due to sinus infection). The veteran German has an 11-8 match record on the season, 10-6 lifetime in Indy. He advanced to his first ATP quarterfinal here in 1996 (l. to Sampras) and reached the semis in 2002 (l. to Rusedski). He missed most of the clay court circuit (0-2) with a right shoulder injury. He returned on grass and reached the second round in Halle (l. to Kohlschreiber) and third round at Wimbledon (l. to Murray).
Simon, 23, is the only quarterfinalist playing in Indy for the first time this year. The No. 4 Frenchman, ranked a career-high No. 25 this week, is appearing in his fifth ATP quarterfinal (or better). He won his third career ATP title in Casablanca in May (d. Benneteau) and reached the semifinals in Rotterdam (l. to Soderling) in February. He enters with a 23-16 match record on the season. The last Frenchman to reach the Indy final was Olivier Delaitre in 1994 (l. to W. Ferreira).
In the second quarterfinal match of the day, Bobby Reynolds looks to defeat countryman Sam Querrey for the first time. Querrey won the only previous ATP meeting 6-3, 7-5, in the first round at Indian Wells in 2006. He also won in three sets in the semifinals at the Vancouver Challenger last summer.
Reynolds, 26, is appearing in his third career ATP quarterfinal, the first since February when he reached the quarters in Delray Beach (l. to eventual champ Nishikori). Prior to that, his other ATP quarterfinal came in Washington three years ago. Earlier this month, he was the last American man remaining at Wimbledon where he lost to Feliciano Lopez in the third round in four sets. He enters with a 10-11 match record on the season and ranked No. 90.
Querrey, 20, is the youngest player remaining and last year the California native reached his first ATP semifinal in Indy (d. No. 10 Blake in QF, l. to Tursunov). He is appearing in his fourth ATP quarterfinal (or better) this season and his 21-15 match record already surpasses last year’s mark of 19-22. He captured his first ATP title in Las Vegas in March (d. Anderson) and reached the semifinals in Delray Beach (l. to Nishikori) and quarterfinals at Masters Series Monte Carlo (d. Gasquet, l. to Djokovic), his best career ATP showing on clay. In the evening session, top seed and 2006 champion James Blake meets Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei for the first time.
Blake, 28, is through to his ninth ATP quarterfinal (or better) in 14 tournaments this year. The Tampa, Fla. resident, who was winless in his first three visits to Indy, has won nine of his last 10 matches since winning the title two years ago (d. Roddick). He comes into the quarters with a 33-15 match record on the season. His best results were runner-up showings in Delray Beach (l. to Nishikori) in February and Houston (l. to Granollers) in April. This is his first tournament since a fiveset second round loss to Rainer Schuettler at Wimbledon.
Lu, 24, reached the quarterfinals in San Jose in February, and this is his third career ATP quarterfinal result. The 24-year-old Taipei native advanced to the quarters in Memphis last year. He came into Indianapolis ranked No. 77, just six places off his career-high on June 23. He was 0-3 in three previous visits to Indy. Although he is 6-9 in ATP level play this year, his best results have come in Challengers. He has compiled a 27-7 match record with titles in Waikoloa (d. Spadea) in January and New Delhi (d. Evans) in May. He’s also been runner-up in three other Challengers. In the final singles quarterfinal, defending champion Dmitry Tursunov brings a 2-0 career mark against Chilean Paul Capdeville. .
Tursunov, 25, is making his first ATP quarterfinal showing since January when he opened the campaign with a quarterfinal in Doha (l. to Davydenko) and his fourth career ATP title in Sydney (d. Guccione). The defending Indy champion enters with a 21-14 match record on the season and No. 32 ranking. He also is 8-2 lifetime in Indy.
Capdeville, 25, is the lowest-ranked player remaining in the quarterfinals at No. 139. The Santiago native is appearing in his third career ATP singles quarterfinal, the first since last August when he reached the quarters in Washington (l. to Karlovic). He enters with a 6-11 match record on the season. He surprised No. 7 seed and ’05 Indy champion Robby Ginepri in the first round and followed with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Aussie qualifier Joseph Sirianni. (ATP Digital Services)
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