By Niall Clarke
- Aljaz Bedene is through to the quarter finals of the Chennai open
- The Brit defeated Luca Vanni 5-7 6-3, 6-4
- He will play Ramkumar Ramanathan in the last eight.
Chennai, India- Aljaz Bedene is through to the quarter finals of the Chennai open after a come from behind three sets win over Luca Vanni.
The British number two lost the first set but came back to defeat the Italian 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 14 minutes.
The first set was a close affair, but at 5-5 Vanni made the first breakthrough of the match. He successfully serve out the opening set 7-5 to give himself a one set advantage.
The Brit had to save two break points in the second set as the Italian seemingly had the momentum. But against the run of play, Bedene earned a break at 4-3 and served out the set to level the score.
Momentum was now with the Brit and he earned a break point early in the second set, however Vanni managed to save it. He could not prevent Bedene from breaking serve though, the Brit made the crucial breakthrough at 3-3 and served out the match to love to book a quarter final place.
The world number 45 will play Ramkumar Ramanathan in the last eight. The Indian wildcard defeated lucky loser Alexander Kudryavtsev in three sets earlier in the day. The Russian replaced second seed Kevin Anderson who withdrew due to injury.
Ramanathan is ranked 203 places below Bedene but has shown good form this week in his home tournament. The 21 year old will be competing in his first ATP quarter final on Friday.
Elsewhere, third seed Benoit Paire was victorious in straight sets over Lukas Rosol. The Frenchman came through 7-5, 7-5 and will play Thomas Fabbiano in the quarter finals. The Italian upset Gilles Muller in straight sets.
Tomorrow will also see top seed Stan Wawrinka in quarter final action against fifth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The Spaniard defeated Wawrinka at the French Open in 2014 and has given the Swiss tough matches in the past. Wawrinka was comfortable in a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Andrey Rublev in the second round.
Bedene will play his quarter final match tomorrow.
| FOLLOW BRITWATCH – SPORTS IN GENERAL, BRITS IN PARTICULAR! | |