MOSCOW — Qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin saved four match points as he stunned top seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 in the second round of the Kremlin Cup Thursday. The 116th-ranked Frenchman forced a tiebreak after saving two match points on his serve in the 12th game of the third set. In the tiebreak Roger-Vasselin recovered from 6-4 down to win the last four points, sealing victory when his opponent's forehand went long. Roger-Vasselin reached his third quarterfinal of the year and now plays Croatian Ivo Karlovic or Russian Alex Bogomolov Friday. Second seed Andreas Seppi of Italy and fourth-seeded Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci also went through. Seppi beat Dutchman Igor Sijsling 7-5, 6-2 and Bellucci eliminated Italian Flavio Cipolla 6-4, 6-1. In the women's event, fourth-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic booked her spot in the last eight with a routine 6-1, 6-4 win over Russian qualifier Valeria Solovieva. Ivanovic next meets 158th-ranked compatriot Vesna Dolonc. Moscow-born Dolonc, who took Serbian citizenship last year, crushed Romanian Simona Halep 6-1, 6-0 to reach her first quarterfinal on the WTA Tour this year. Seventh-seeded Maria Kirilenko, the only Russian left in the women's draw, rallied from 5-1 down in the first set to beat Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 7-5, 6-4. Vinci in quarterfinals Top-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy reached the quarterfinals of the Luxembourg Open Thursday by beating Anne Keothavong of Britain 6-4, 6-1. Also, Andrea Petkovic of Germany, ranked 182nd in the world, defeated third-seeded and former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 7-5, 6-0, while Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia defeated Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. In another second-round match, Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan beat sixth-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania 7-6 (4), 6-1. Del Potro wins opener
In Vienna, top seed Juan Martin Del Potro marked his return to tennis after a month-long injury absence Wednesday with a three-hour victory over German qualifier Daniel Brands to reach the Austrian Open third round. The Argentine defeated Brands 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (8/6) in a match featuring 62 aces (32 for Brands and 30 for Del Potro) and no breaks of serve. The ATP Tour website said it had been the first time that two players in the same three-sets match had hit at least 30 aces since they started keeping match statistics in 1991. The match point — Del Potro's second — was decided by the Hawk-Eye electronic system. Two-time champion Juergen Melzer suffered his earliest Vienna defeat in five years as the fourth seed went out in the second round, losing to Gilles Muller, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4). The result at the Stadthalle was a huge disappointment for the newly-married 31-year-old, his ranking down to 37 after a number of injuries including a hip problem. Melzer admitted at the start of the week that he was going into the European indoor season with a loss of form, but remained encouraged by his recent Beijing quarterfinal run. Dominic Thiem, 19, who ended the career of comeback king Thomas Muster a year ago at the same venue, defeated Slovak Lukas Lacko 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 to keep home hopes alive. Hewitt advances Australian veteran Lleyton Hewitt reached his first quarterfinal since July when he defeated eighth-seeded Finn Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 (7/2), 2-6, 6-4 at the Stockholm Open Wednesday. Former world No. 1 Hewitt dropped serve six times, but capitalized on three of his four break points in the decisive set to improve to a 5-0 record against Nieminen. The 31-year-old last made the quarterfinals on his way to the Newport championship match in July where he was runner-up to John Isner. Nieminen was looking to reach the Stockholm quarterfinals for a seventh straight year and eighth time overall. He was a finalist in 2001, 2006 and 2011. — Agencies
