ATLANTA: Top seed and defending champion John Isner saved two match points en route to a three-set victory over Robby Ginepri to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP Atlanta Open here on Thursday.

America’s Isner, ranked 12th in the world, was playing his first match of the tournament after enjoying a first-round bye, and nearly fell at the first hurdle.

Ginepri had Isner on the ropes with a 5-4 lead in the third set, but Isner used his big serve to save two match points and level the set at 5-5.

He broke Ginepri in the next game and went on to claim a 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 victory.

Second-seeded South African Kevin Anderson, beaten by Isner in last year’s final, won’t get a chance to avenge that defeat after falling 6-4, 7-5 to Dutch lucky loser Thiemo De Bakker.

The 142nd-ranked De Bakker converted three of his 13 break chances against world number 17 Anderson to gain the victory in the rain-disrupted match.

In the quarter-finals, De Bakker will play Germany’s Benjamin Becker, who ousted seventh-seeded Lu Yen-Hsun 6-4, 6-3.

YOUZHNY BEGINS TITLE DEFENCE

GSTAAD: Top seed Mikhail Youzhny began his title defence at the Swiss Open with a 6-3, 6-4 opening defeat of Frenchman Kenny De Schepper here on Thursday.

One day after enjoying a photo-op fondue meal with his family at a local alpine mountainside refuge above the pedestrianised village, the 19th-ranked Russian moved thro­ugh easily into the quarter-finals.

Youzhny set up a repeat of last year’s final as he faces seventh seed Robin Haase after the Dutchman overcame the last Swiss in the claycourt field, Henri Laaksonen, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.

At the bottom of the draw, Viktor Troicki won his second match after his return from a one-year ban for asking to postpone an April 2013 blood test in Monte Carlo due to feeling poorly.

The Serb was hammered by a tribunal and is playing on his last wild card entry with a ranking standing at 847. He reached the last eight over Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4.

The day’s final match was hit by weather, with rain leaving fourth seed Fernando Verdasco level with German Jan-Leonard Struff 3-6, 6-3, 1-1.

CIRSTEA FALLS

BAKU: Top-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania took a 6-1, 6-1, 50-minute beating from Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland in the Baku Cup second round here on Thursday.

Cirstea, who had won all four previous matches against Voegele, held serve only once. Her service game was woeful, while Voegele got away with making only a third of her first serves, and dropping serve only once.

The Romanian, who enjoyed a career-best year in 2013 to rank 22, has reached only two quarter-finals this year, and none since February. Because of a right shoulder injury, this was Cirstea’s second tournament in two months.

Voegele will face Shahar Peer of Israel, hoping to pass the quarter-finals for the first time this season.

Defending champion Eliva Svitolina of Ukraine, seeded No. 2, beat Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain 7-5, 6-2 and will meet Pauline Par­mentier of France in the quarters.

Former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone won 6-2, 7-6 (2) against Julia Glushko of Israel, who converted only two of eight break points, and lined up Kristina Mladenovic for the second time this year after the Frenchwoman overcame Donna Vekic of Croatia 2-6, 6-3, 6-0. Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia plays Misa Eguchi of Japan in the other quarter.—Agencies

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2014