Bedene shocks Lopez

Tennis Chennai Open : Slovenian sinks second seed in straight sets to enter quarterfinals

Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia shocked world number 14 Feliciano Lopez from Spain to storm into the men’s singles quarterfinals at the ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament here on Thursday.

The 156th-ranked qualifier showed remarkable skills to down second seed Lopez 6-4, 6-4 causing the biggest upset in the singles draw.

The 25-year-old next faces another Spaniard and fifth seed Guillermo Garcia Lopez.
Bedene has a reputation of humbling higher-ranked opponents. The Slovenian had stunned then world number 17 Stanislas Wawrinka in the 2013 edition.

Lopez was not at his best and gave away as many as ten break point chances, out of which Bedene converted two. Another thing that went against Lopez was his first serve percentage, only 56 to his opponents’ 67.

After the match, Bedene said “I have won my second match here at the Centre Court. I am happy to have served well through the match and hope to maintain the same flow in the next match.”

Lopez was gracious in his defeat.
“He (Bedene) played a great match. He was a better player than me in this match. I know it is always tough to play the first match of the season because you are not confident and need to adjust. Maybe I was a bit tired. I need to practice and get ready for the Australian Open,” said the 33-year-old.

In other matches, Spain’s third seed Roberto Bautista Agut made a smooth entry into the quarterfinals with a fluent 6-3, 6-2 win over German Peter Gojowczyk. Unseeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain lost his pre-quarterfinal to world number 38 Yen Hsun Lu 4-6, 4-6 in 73 minutes.

Sixth seed Lu from Chinese Taipei will take on Agut in the quarterfinals.
Garcia Lopez, the fifth seed, also progressed to the quarterfinals with a 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-0 over Japanese number two Ito Tatsuma.

In the doubles,  India’s Leander Paes and Raven Klaasen beat Mahesh Bhupathi and Saketh Myneni 1-6, 6-1, 10-7 to storm into the semifinals.

 PTI
Results: Singles: Aljaz Bedene (SLO) bt Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 6-4, 6-4; Yen Hsun Lu (TPE) bt P Carreno Busta (ESP) 6-4, 6-4; Bautista Agut (ESP) bt Peter Gojowczyk (GER); Garcia-Lopez (ESP) bt Tatsuma Ito (JAP) 7-6, 6-2, 6-0;

Doubles: Raven Klaasen (RSA)/Leander Paes (IND) bt Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Saketh Myneni 1-6, 6-1, 10-7; Purva Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) bt Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP)/ Stan Wawrinka (SWI) 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 10-4; Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP)/ Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) bt Ricardas Berankis (LTU)/ Mate Pavic (CRO) 6-4, 0-6, 10- 10-4.