Haas Joins 500 Match Wins Club; Tipsarevic Wins Vienna Opener

© e|motion/zolles.comTommy Haas was presented a special Fiat 500 from Vienna tournament director Herwig Straka.

Third seed Tommy Haas reached 500 match wins on Thursday in Vienna when he dismissed Jesse Levine 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the Erste Bank Open.

Haas was presented a special Fiat 500 by tournament director Herwig Straka after becoming the 38th player in the Open Era to achieve the feat. He joins Roger Federer (871), Rafael Nadal (583) and Lleyton Hewitt (566) as the only active players to attain the milestone.

“I knew for a few days that I would reach the milestone if I won this match. This was a big goal of mine,” said Haas. “In April, I was at around 472 wins and I knew it wouldn't be easy to win another 27 or 28 matches. It makes me really proud and for sure this is one of my biggest achievements after everything that happened. The fact that it happened here in Vienna makes it very special. Getting such a gift on top of it makes it an amazing day for me.”

Haas' Milestone Wins

The 2001 champion Haas won 84 per cent of his first serve points and broke Levine three times to seal the victory in 80 minutes. The German improved to 3-0 against Levine with all their meetings coming on hard courts.

The 34-year-old Haas is aiming to lift his second trophy of the season, following his triumph over Federer on home soil at the Gerry Weber Open. He also finished runner-up at the ATP World Tour 500 events in Hamburg (l. to Monaco) and Washington (l. to Dolgopolov) and has a 31-15 season record.

“For now I’m focusing on next year,” Haas said. “One of my goals for this year was to win my 13th title since 13 is my lucky number. Next year is 2013 and as long as I'm fit I want to play the whole year.”

Haas will play qualifier Grega Zemlja next. The Slovenian beat Matthew Ebden 7-5, 6-4 in one hour and 44 minutes. Zemlja won 76 per cent of his second serve return points.

World No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic advanced to the quarter-finals, defeating wild card Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-4 to continue his push towards the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The second-seeded Serbian capitalised on four of his six break points to move past the Latvian in 78 minutes. Tipsarevic is currently ninth in the South African Airways ATP Rankings Race To London. Only the Top 8 players at the end of the regular season earn a place to compete at the season finale.

Tipsarevic goes onto face Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene after the 23 year old fired 11 aces and broke serve four times from 18 opportunities to defeat American Donald Young 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 6-3. World No. 89 Bedene is through to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final.

Marinko Matosevic defeated Austrian wild card Dominic Thiem 6-3, 7-6(5) in one hour and 36 minutes to set a quarter-final clash with top seed Juan Martin del Potro. Elsewhere, Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi followed up his first-round win over seventh seed Benoit Paire by advancing to the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil. 

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