BRATISLAVA, November 9, 2016

Vasek Pospisil remains back on his winning ways, reaching the quarterfinals at the €85,000 Peugeot Slovak Open. The 26-year-old Canadian knocked off second seed Illya Marchenko on Wednesday, celebrating his second win over the Ukrainian in as many meetings between the two. Pospisil hit 12 aces, winning 91 per cent of his first service points and didn’t face a single break point to seal a 7-6, 6-4 victory in one hour and 26 minutes.

After the 2016 season had featured very few highs and far too many lows, Pospisil parted ways with long-time coach Frédéric Fontang last July. Ahead of last week’s ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris, he hired 51-year-old Mark Woodforde, who was inducted to the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in 2010 alongside his long time doubles partner Todd Woodbridge.

“I’m eager to have a specific focus and direction on where to take my game,” Pospisil told Yahoo. The Vernon native has seen his ranking fall from No. 39 to No. 112 this season but still eyes direct entry into January’s Australian Open. With every win, he gets closer to meet his goal. In the stage of Bratislava’s final eight, he awaits the winner of the encounter between local favourite Norbert Gombos and Germany’s Cedric-Marcel Stebe.

Sixth seed Daniil Medvedev also advanced to the quarterfinals, winning 7-6, 6-3 over Petr Michnev of the Czech Republic. The world number 104 from Russia fired 17 aces and broke his opponent’s serve two times to prevail in one hour and 15 minutes. Next up for Medvedev will be the either third favourite Adam Pavlasek or Mohamed Safwat from Egypt.

Elsewhere, Egor Gerasimov emerged victorious from the all-Belarusian-affair with Uladzimir Ignatik, winning 6-3, 6-2. The defending champion from Minsk saved all of the four break points he faced, converting three of his own to advance in 52 minutes.