Gasquet Upset In Beijing; Top Seeds Djokovic, Murray In QF Action Friday
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Recent Bangkok winner Richard Gasquet couldn’t keep his run going Thursday falling to Chinese wildcard Ze Zhang 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the second round at Beijing.
“Today I had no fear,” said Zhang. “I was very much relaxed. I wasn’t that nervous, so I tried my best to play with the utmost performance.”
The 22-year-old Zhang came into the match ranked No. 165.
Feliciano Lopez, Mikhail Youzhny and Sam Querrey also advanced to the quarterfinals. Top seed Novak Djokovic will try to stay perfect in Beijing tonight against Jurgen Melzer.
In the women’s event, favorites Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska remain in the hunt at the Premier Mandatory event.
“I’m not the social type in the players’ lounge,” Sharapova said commenting on the combined event. “I do my job and honestly sometimes I don’t know who’s playing and who’s not. The tournament for me is when I have an opponent to face, I get ready for that match and play.
“After this I’ll eat something and be back in my hotel, not knowing what’s going on later today. I’ll probably see the result of who my next opponent is. But as far as focusing on what’s going on around and who’s talking with who, I don’t know.”
Sharapova will now meet German Angelique Kerber Friday. Kerber beat Caroline Wozniacki to win her 60th WTA match of the season, far surpassing her previous best of a year of 23.
Not far off in Tokyo, Tomas Berdych won his 50th match of the season and Milos Raonic reached the quarterfinals via a retirement. Berdych beat Alejandro Falla 6-3, 7-5. Raonic advanced when Viktor Troicki retired with a calf injury down 3-0 in the first set.
“I was feeling much better physically than in my first match,” said Berdych. “I was able to profit from that. I was serving well, was playing solid and when I had the chance, I took it. That’s why I was able to finish it in two sets.”
Tonight top seed Andy Murray continues his title defense against Stanislas Wawrinka.
“He had a good US Open and did well in Cincinnati,” Murray said of the Swiss. “I think hard courts are a good surface for him. I’ve had a lot of tough matches with him over the years, especially on the hard courts. I would expect the same on Friday.”:
TOKYO SCHEDULE
COURT 1 start 11:00 am
[3] J Tipsarevic (SRB) vs [6] M Raonic (CAN)
[1] A Murray (GBR) vs [7] S Wawrinka (SUI)
Not Before 2:00 PM
[Q] D Tursunov (RUS) vs M Baghdatis (CYP)
[8] K Nishikori (JPN) vs [2] T Berdych (CZE)
J Chardy (FRA) / M Melo (BRA) vs [4] A Peya (AUT) / B Soares (BRA)
BEIJING SCHEDULE
NATIONAL TENNIS STADIUM start 12:30 pm
F Mayer (GER) vs [WC] Z Zhang (CHN) – ATP
Not Before 3:00 PM
[5] A Kerber (GER) vs [2] M Sharapova (RUS) – WTA
[7] N Li (CHN) or S Peng (CHN) vs [3] A Radwanska (POL) – WTA
Not Before 7:30 PM
[1] N Djokovic (SRB) vs J Melzer (AUT) – ATP
C Fleming (GBR) / R Hutchins (GBR) vs [3] R Lindstedt (SWE) / H Tecau (ROU) – ATP
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