It was a good day for seeds as top seed David Ferrer got through his first match on grass at the Ricoh Open with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Dudi Sela. Gilles Muller, Adrian Mannarino, and Ivo Karlovic were amongst the winners on day two as quarterfinal matches were decided.
Muller advances
The first set started tightly and as it both players began to get into the game more, the first break point arrived. In the ninth game, Muller had two break points saved by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez before in the following game going on to save one of his own. In the twelfth game, Muller grabbed the first break point and managed to take the set 7-5. The momentum would swing fully in the Luxembourg's way in the second set. Muller got off to a good start and broke in the second game, which was followed by a break of serve. The 33-year-old continued to dominate and went a double break up on Garcia-Lopez and he closed out the set for a quarterfinal place.
Mannarino denies youngster Medvedev
The 20-year-old Russian Daniil Medvedev kept up with Mannarino in the first set with no break of serve until the ninth game. The Frenchman raced away to a 15-40 lead and having had one break point saved, he broke at the second time of asking and that seemed to be it for the Russian as the 27-year old held to love to take the set 6-4. The Frenchman's experiences were showing during the second set and immediately broke Medvedev and held. In the seventh game, Mannarino pushed Medvedev to deuce on two occasions before breaking and going on to hold and seal the victory.
Karlovic seals victory in two tiebreakers
Adrian Mannarino awaits Ivo Karlovic who fired 20 aces as he defeated the last remaining Dutchman Igor Sijsling 7-6(4), 7-6(5). The 6'11 Croatian's favourite shot was working well, as he landed 70 percent of first serves in. There was nothing to split the two players during the first set and Sijsling pushed the veteran to a tiebreak and lost. The second set saw only one break point opportunity, in the sixth game. Ivo Karlovic used his powerful serve to get him out of trouble and hold on. Just like the first set, the second then went to a tiebreaker and again the Croatian came away a winner.
Top seed Ferrer through
David Ferrer had to save ten of 13 break points in defeating Isreali's Dudi Sela in the second round. The first set alone saw five breaks of serve, with three coming at the start of the match. With Ferrer having the break of Sela, the sixth game would see the Israeli get back on level terms, before gifting the break straight back. From then on in, the Spaniard closed out the opening set. Ferrer raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set and despite gifting a break to the 31-year-old, Ferrer then hung on to serve out the win on his third match point. Return of serve was the main choice of weapon for both players, having traded eight breaks of serve and just two aces throughout the entire match.