Top seed David Ferrer recovered from a set and a break down to defeat French qualifier Calvin Hemery 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, in the second round of the Swedish Open.
The world No.13 was on the verge of suffering the upset of the tournament when Hemery raced to a 6-3, 2-0, lead before the Spaniard battled back win the 128-minute epic. Ferrer’s triumph over the Frenchman has rewarded the two-time champion with his 20th win at the Swedish Open.
“It was tough, at the end of the first set and beginning of the second set I made a lot of mistakes,” Ferrer said about the match.
“I played point by point and remained focused so that in the third set, I was more settled.”
In the next round Ferrer will encounter another testing match against Germany’s Dustin Brown. Brown booked a place in his first clay-court quarter-final of the year by upsetting sixth seed Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3. The German was on course for a straight-sets win with a 6-3, 4-2, lead before Bedene battled back to force a deciding set.
Ferrer has never lost to Brown before, winning all three of their previous encounters on the tour. Nevertheless, the 34-year-old is expecting to be pushed to his limits during Friday’s match in Bastad.
“Dustin is playing well, I watched his match against Bedene. It isn’t easy playing against Dustin.” Ferrer said.
Historic achievement for Portuguese tennis
Elsewhere at the tournament, wins for Joao Sousa and Gastao Elias has set up an all-Portuguese quarter-final for only the second time in the history of the ATP Tour. Sousa required only 56 minutes to dismiss Swedish wildcard Carl Soderlund 6-3, 6-1. Meanwhile, Elias outlasted Japan’s Taro Daniel 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-2, in what was the longest match of the day.
Elias currently leads Sousa 3-2 in their head-to-head. Friday’s match will be the first meeting between the two since 2012. It will be the first time in history that an all-Portuguese ATP quarter-final has occurred outside of Portugal.
Results in full
#Tenis #SwedishOpen 🎾 Ferrer y Sousa clasifican a Cuartos de #ATPBastad. pic.twitter.com/yzeA9dR7Ao
— elSuperHincha (@elSuperHincha) 14 July 2016
