Juan Monaco has held his nerve in a tight final set to upset third seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2 2-6 6-4 for a second consecutive place in a quarter-final at the Swiss Open.
The Argentine, whose ranking has dropped to 105, on Wednesday won his sixth of eight meetings with Garcia-Lopez, whom he also beat in the second round in Gstaad a year ago.
The unseeded South American missed his first chance to serve out victory in the concluding set but came through into the last eight on his second opportunity two games later, going through on his second match point.
A year ago, Monaco held a match point in his quarter-final against eventual Gstaad champion and current top seeded Mikhail Youzhny.
"This year, I'm feeling great. I was a little nervous when I was serving for the match at 5-2. I missed that opportunity, but I just tried to get focused on the changeover, thinking of where I'm going to serve.
"I had to play relaxed, it's the only way to play a good game. The last game was difficult but I'm m happy with how I played today.
Argentine fifth seed Federico Delbonis was also sent packing by Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci as the two-time former champion advanced 6-4 6-4.
Second seed Marcel Granollers fared far better though with a comprehensive 6-1 6-4 defeat of Swiss wild card Yann Marti while Spain's Pablo Andujar beat Slovenian Blaz Rola 6-3 6-3.
In a first-round match interrupted by darkness on Tuesday, Swiss wild card Henri Laaksonen defeated Gianni Mina of France 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (7/3).
Share
