METZ, September 24, 2015
On Thursday twelve players were looking for the remaining six spots for the quarterfinals at the Moselle Open, joining Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Muller in the final eight.
The tournament’s main attraction and top-seed Stan Wawrinka fought past Dustin Brown to open his Metz campaign with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 victory. The world number four from Switzerland fired eight aces and won 73% of his first service points to gain his first victory over the German in their second tour meeting.
“It is nice to come back to France. Since winning at Roland Garros I have become stronger. I am very pleased with my performance and hope to continue playing like that,” Wawrinka told in his post-match interview. It was the Swiss’ first encounter on French soil since beating Novak Djokovic in Paris.
Wawrinka will take on another German in the quarterfinals, as Philipp Kohlschreiber advanced through a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Paolo Lorenzi. The fifth-seed stroke six aces and saved all two break points he faced to close the encounter after 67 minutes, improving 3-0 against the Italian in head to head records.
Third seed Tsonga will play his fellow countryman Nicolas Mahut, who emerged victorious from the all-French-affair with the tournament’s number seven Adrian Mannarino. Mahut fired 24 aces and converted two of his seven break points to prevail in two hours and 17 minutes.
Guillermo Garcia-López (photo: Aranau Briand)
Fourth seed Guillermo Garcia-López defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert, winning 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. The 32-year-old Spaniard withstood 13 aces from his opponent and won 89% of his first service points to advance after one hour and 34 minutes.
Garcia-López will face sixth seed Martin Klizan next. The world number 35 from Slovakia overcame Vasek Pospisil, winning 6-4, 7-6. Klizan saved the only break point he had to take on and capitalized on one of his own to seal victory in one hour and 51 minutes.
“It was a tough match against Vasek, because he is a great player,” said Klizan. “He has one of the best serves in the world. I tried to focus on the return and in the tie-break I was a bit lucky.”
Gilles Muller will meet second seed Gilles Simon, who beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 6-2 in 72 minutes.
