JAPAN'S Kei Nishikori won an epic battle in pain while top seed Nicolas Almargo and Viktor Troicki both hit form at Putra Stadium to reach the ATP Malaysian Open quarter-finals yesterday.
Nishikori recovered from a second set blemish to edge Germany's World No 66 Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in a match, which both players were struggling to hold serve, to make his fifth quarter-final appearance of the season.
The 21-year-old suffered muscle strain issues in his leg in the first set and had to call for the trainer for treatment before resuming play.
The World No 54 was struggling with the German's slice and drop shots throughout the match but managed to get the deciding break in the 11th game of the third set before winning the next game in deuce to clinch the match.
"I struggled with his slice shots but overcame it by playing aggressive in the third set. I worked really hard yesterday (Wednesday) by practising with my coach to counter Petzschner's game," said Nishikori yesterday.
"In the second set, I broke his serve first but lost my confidence and thus missed easy shots. This tough victory definitely gives me the self-belief for my following matches."
"I hope my muscle strain is not serious as I need to return to court tomorrow (today). It is important that I get enough rest."
Almargo, the World No 11 Spaniard, who received a first round bye, battled past training partner and compatriot Albert Ramos 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4) to tee-up a first-ever meeting against Nishikori today.
"I will need to play hard and most importantly serve better against Nishikori. I know that he played three sets today (yesterday) and just maybe I will be fresher on court tomorrow (today)," said Almargo.
Troicki, the World No 15, saved all three break points he faced to knock out Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-1, 6-4 in 79 minutes.
"The first set I played pretty good, controlling that part of the match. The second set was pretty equal. I was just a bit more focused at the end to make a break to win the match," he said.
Troicki will hope to extend his winning streak to four matches when he faces seventh-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov today.
"I know what to expect him but it would be easy as he is hitting the ball a lot better here," said Troicki.
Former champion Nikolay Davdenko overcame a tough second set to defeat Poland's Lukasz Kubot 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) in the pair's first meeting since 2006.
"At 5-2 down in the second set, I was already thinking about the third set. I was just fighting for the points and was able to come back and win it in two sets. Sometimes it happens that way," said Davydenko, who faces Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic for a place in the semi-finals today.
Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis is coincidently the first ever wild card player to reach the quarter-finals in the tournament's history, where he faces Austria's fourth seed Jurgen Melzer.
Men's singles 2nd rd: Viktor Troicki (Srb) bt Denis Istomin (Uzb) 6-1, 6-4; Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Lukas Kubot (Pol) 6-3, 7-6 (7-2); Kei Nishikori (Jpn) bt Philipp Petzschner (Ger) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5; Nicolas Almagro (Spa) bt Albert Ramos (Spa) 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4); Janko Tipsarevic (Ita) bt Flavio Cipolla (Ita) 6-2, 6-4.
Doubles Q-finals: Frantisek Cermak (Cze)-Filip Polasek (Svk) bt Martin Emmrich (Ger)-Andreas Siljestrom (Swe) 6-4, 3-6, 10-7; Scott Lipsky (US)-Rajeev Ram (US) bt Matthew Ebden (Aus)-Bernard Tomic (Aus) 6-2, 6-3; Eric Butorac (US)-Jean-Julien Rojer (Ned) bt Lukas Dlouhy (Cze)-Marcelo Melo (Bra) 6-4, 4-6, 10-3; Juergen Melzer (Aut)-Philipp Petzchner (Ger) bt Colin Fleming-Ross Hutchins (Bri) 6-3, 6-3.
