PUNE: Second seed
Hyeon Chung
frittered away a handsome lead to suffer a shock exit from the
Tata Open Maharashtra
while top seed
Kevin Anderson and defending champion
Gilles Simon
had to dig deep to beat their respective opponents, on Wednesday.
Latvian Ernests Gulbis erased a 0-4 lead to knock out World No. 25 from South Korea 7-6(2), 6-2 in the second round.
Later, South African Anderson had to give his all before prevailing 7-6(2), 7-6(6) over Serbia's Laslo Djere in two hours and eight minutes.
Anderson will now fight it out with seventh seed
Jaume Munar
, who sent packing qualifier Simone Bolleli 7-5, 6-0.
Ranked 93, Illya Ivashka of Belarus stretched world number 30 Simon, who had to grind his way to quarterfinals with a 6-7, (3) 6-2, 6-1 after battling hard for two hours and 31 minutes.
Third seed Simon, who usually has effortless movement had to run a lot on court with Ivashka returning almost everything.
Also advancing to the quarterfinals was fifth seed Benoit Paire, who defeated Cez Jiri Vesley 6-4, 6-2.
Steve Darcis's impressive comeback was extended to quarterfinals with a 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 win over talented American youngster Michael Mmoh.
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