Volandri Ousts No. 3 Seed Granollers; Mayer Made To Work

© BRD Nastase Tiriac TrophyJoao Souza saved match point to oust Romanian wild card Adrian Ungur.

Italy’s Filippo Volandri ousted third seed Marcel Granollers on Thursday at the BDR Nastase Tiriac Trophy in Bucharest, dismissing the Spaniard 6-1, 6-3. The No. 86-ranked Volandri, who is coming off a runner-up showing at the Todi Challenger, converted five of eight break points to prevail in 76 minutes.

The 30-year-old Volandri was a semi-finalist on clay in Belgrade (l. to Lopez) in May, and improved to a 12-18 match record. The Italian next will face Brazil’s Joao Souza, who backed up his first-round win over No. 5 seed Tommy Robredo by saving four match points to defeat Romanian wild card Adrian Ungur 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-1.

World No. 84 Souza is through to his second ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season, having reached the last four in Kitzbuhel (l. to Haase) in July. The 23 year old rallied to win the second set tie-break after saving four match points during the set, and broke serve twice in the deciding set to claim victory in two hours and 45 minutes.

Second seed Florian Mayer survived a second set blip to defeat Argentine Carlos Berlocq 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 in one hour and 52 minutes. After dropping his serve three times in the second set, the German rallied to convert two of three break points in the decider and notch his 35th win of the season.

The No. 24-ranked Mayer is through to his eighth ATP World Tour quarter-final in what has been a career-best season for the 27 year old, highlighted by a runner-up showing on clay in Munich (l. to Davydenko).

For a place in the semi-finals Mayer will face Albert Ramos, who came from behind to defeat fellow Spaniard Pere Riba 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 in two hours and 54 minutes. The No. 87-ranked Ramos improved to a 13-14 match record on the season after reaching his second ATP World Tour quarter-final (also Umag – l. to Dolgopolov).

Spaniard Pablo Andujar, the No. 6 seed, converted on five of his seven break points to knock out home country hopeful Marius Copil 6-2, 6-3. Andujar, currently ranked a career-high No. 43, is through to his sixth clay-court quarter-final of the season. He won his first ATP World Tour title earlier this year in Casablanca and was also a finalist in Stuttgart.

He next faces Italian qualifier Alessandro Giannessi, who recovered to defeat Portuguese Frederico Gil 7-6(2), 0-6, 6-3 in two hours and 25 minutes. The 183rd-ranked Giannessi is making his tour-level debut this week.

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