Estoril (Portugal) (AFP) – Japan’s Taro Daniel succumbed 6-4, 7-5 to Spanish eighth seed Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round of the ATP Estoril Open on Thursday.
On another sunny day on the Iberian peninsula, Daniel was twice made to pay for losing his serve at crucial moments in both sets as Carreno Busta moved into his second career quarter-final.
“I’m happy to win in straight sets against a really tough opponent,” said Carreno Busta after overcoming New York-born Daniel who trains in Valencia.
The finalist this season in Sao Paulo added: “He fought a lot and I relaxed a bit in the second set. I had to re-focus my tennis and play aggressive to win. I could have lost that set.”
French top seed Gilles Simon put out compatriot Paul-Henri Mathieu 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 and will next face Carreno Busta.
Simon stands 12-8 on the season after winning a fourth match on clay.
“I’ve had four days to prepare, I played a good first match but it’s just a start,” Simon said.
“I want to continue with this kind of game for three more matches if possible. I feel I can win here.”
Argentine seventh seed Leonardo Mayer battled to beat Italian Paolo Lorenzi 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
Host nation Portugal lost the last of its four players in the tournament as Spain’s Nicolas Almagro put out fourth seed Joao Sousa 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
World number 34 Sousa had run away with the opening set but was unable to keep up his momentum against Almagro who next plays Mayer.
Almagro, winner of a dozen ATP titles and ranked 71st, hammered 13 aces in a victory lasting just under one and three-quarter hours on the Estoril clay.
The 30-year-old Almagro levelled his 2016 match record at 9-9 by reaching his second quarter-final of the season.
He finished runner-up two months ago in Buenos Aires to Austrian Dominic Thiem.
“Playing in Portugal against the best Portuguese player in history, I knew from the start it would be a very tough match,” Almagro said.
“There were high expectations about his campaign. He was very motivated and in the beginning didn’t make any mistakes.”
Sousa, broken four times, dropped to 5-13 since the start of January as he lost his fourth match on his preferred clay.
In Friday’s quarter-finals, second seed Nick Kyrgios faces Croatian Borna Coric in a battle of fast-rising youngsters while French third seed Benoit Paire will take on Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
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