Tipsarevic Opens Stuttgart Campaign

© MercedesCup/GESJanko Tipsarevic is making his second appearance in Stuttgart.

World No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic made a winning start to his MercedesCup campaign on Wednesday evening, dismissing Belgium’s Steve Darcis 6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tennis tournament in Stuttgart.

The top-seeded Serbian capitalised on four of his six break point chances and won 79 per cent of points on first serve for victory in 79 minutes. It was his first meeting with the 75th-ranked Darcis, who dropped to a 14-13 match record on the season.

"I felt I was focussed from the first till the last point," said Tipsarevic. "I haven't played a lot of tennis lately, I had a couple of days off after Wimbledon, but I'm not the kind of guy who doesn't play a lot of tennis and comes and suddenly feels great even though it looked like it today.

"I was really anxious and nervous at the beginning of the match. Luckily I managed to establish control by breaking the guy pretty early and then later on it was easier."

The 28-year-old Tipsarevic recorded his 33rd match win of the season. He was a finalist at the Aircel Chennai Open (l. to Raonic) in January and reached the semi-finals at the Mutua Madrid Open (l. to Federer) and the Open 13 in Marseille (l. to Llodra).

World No. 87 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat his fellow Spaniard and last year’s MercedesCup runner-up Pablo Andujar 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 on Wednesday in two hours and eight minutes.

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Garcia-Lopez converted seven of 15 break point opportunities to improve to 3-0 lifetime against No. 35-ranked Andujar, who hit 10 double faults.

The 29-year-old Garcia-Lopez is through to his third ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season after appearances at the Heineken Open in Auckland (l. to Verdasco) and the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca (l. to Andreev).

Germany’s Bjorn Phau edged Czech Lukas Rosol 7-6(3), 7-6(2) in a match featuring 17 aces. The No. 81-ranked Phau is through to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final since January 2011, when he reached the last eight at the Aircel Chennai Open (l. to Malisse).

"He has a very strong serve, strong groundstrokes, didn’t give me a lot of rhythm," reflected Phau. "I played a really good tie-break in both sets. He’s a very difficult player to play mentally."

Phau was joined in the quarter-finals by countryman Dustin Brown, who fired 19 aces as he overcame France’s Benoit Paire 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1 in one hour and 38 minutes. "He’s a very dangerous player," commented Brown. "In the third set, I said, ‘No matter what happens, I’m going to win or lose this set on my terms.’ I played a lot more aggressive and made him play my game."