Top seed Tomas Berdych experienced little difficulty during his opening match at the Los Cabos Open in Mexico against Australia’s Akira Santillan.
Berdych, who is playing in his first tournament since reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon, powered past his 20-year-old opponent 6-3, 6-1, in under an hour. During the clash, the Czech world No.14 claimed 84% of his first service points and broke his rival five times.
“It was a quick match, but I’m glad about the way I played tonight,” Berdych said via atpworldtour.com. “It was a nice welcome from the crowd, so I’m looking forward to playing as many matches as possible.”
In the quarter-finals the Czech will play seventh seed Adrian Mannarino. Mannarino cruised to a 6-1, 6-1, win over Bjorn Fratangelo. Earlier this year Berdych defeated his French rival in straight sets at the Miami Open.
Following Berdych into the last eight is second seed Sam Querrey. The American struggled past compatriot Evan King 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(2). World No.347 King, who has won six Future titles in his career, was on the verge of an upset after breaking at the start of the deciding set. Ultimately, it was Querrey’s experience that prevailed.
“Evan is a tricky player. He’s been grinding away for a few years, so hopefully he can keep this going and have more [ATP World Tour] main draws in the future,” said Querrey, who will next play Vincent Millot.
“I’ve got to do everything a little bit better in the next round, but sometimes you just have to battle your way through the first match in these tournaments.”
Thanasi Kokkinakis achieved a milestone in his career with a tough 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) win over Canada’s Peter Polansky. His reward in a place in the last eight of an ATP tournament for the first time. The 21-year-old returned to the tour in May after a lengthly time out due to numerous injury problems.
Standing in the way is Kokkinakis’ first semi-final place is Taylor Fritz. The American stunned third seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(5), 6-4.
Finally, last years runner-up Felicioano Lopez fired 12 aces during his 6-4, 6-4, victory over Matthew Ebden.
