Day four of the Grand Prix Hassan II saw number one seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez get his tournament underway, Federico Delbonis played his first match of the week with eight seed Jiri Vesely and seventh seed Pablo Carreno Busta in action as round two came to an end.
Vesely avoids upset
Jiri Vesely needed a third set tiebreaker to avoid the upset. Croat Nikola Mektic started the quicker of the two players, breaking the Czech at 3-1. Although he gifted the break straight back to the eight seed, Mektic saved four breaks points en route to taking the set to the breaker, which Vesely lost 7-4. The second set went on serve until the eighth game, where the world number 55 broke and sealed the second set. The third set saw no breaks of serve, but it was Vesely being made to work, saving three breaks in the second game. The set went to the tiebreaker and Vesely won taking the match 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-5 to survive a tricky test.
Carreno Busta through
Pablo Carreno Busta need only 78 minutes to book his spot in round three with a 6-3, 7-6(5) victory over Denis Istomin. The opening set saw two breaks of serve, both going the way of the Spaniard. The first came in the seventh game and the scond break came as Carreno Busta sealed the opening set. The second set went on serve and tt was Istomin who served it out and took the set to a tiebreaker. The world number 55, won the breaker 7-5 and sealed victory. The seventh seed will go up against Federico Delbonis.
Garcia-Lopez comes from a set down to win
Nicolas Almagro broke his more experienced Spanish teammate three times as he raced away to take the first set 6-1 against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. In the second, Garcia-Lopez was fairing much better, pushing Almagro in his service games. The crucial break in the set came inthe eighth game, when Garcia-Lopez broke on his second point and took the set. Garcia-Lopez needed only one break in the final set, which came in the third game to clinch victory and book a match-up with Jiri Vesely.
Delbonis wins first match of week, advances to quarterfinals
Thiemo De Bakker started quickly, racing away to a 3-0 lead, but Delbonis fought back to level the set. In the seventh game, the third seed broke and got ahead in the set for the first time. From then on in he closed out the set 6-4. The Argentine continued his momentum and broke in the opening service game of the second set. De Bakker got back on level terms, but straight away gave the break back and Delbonis wasn't preared to let the lead slip. The fourth seed clinched victory.
Quarterfinals begin tomorrow. The opening match sees two unseeded players go head-tohead in Facundo Bagnis and Albert Montanes. Third seed Borna Coric will finally get on court as he faces Paul-Henri Mathieu. Fourth seed Delbonis faces seventh seed Pablo Carreno Busta and top seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez goes up against Jiri Vesely, the eighth seed.