No. 1 Ferrer survives against World No. 593 in Tokyo; Roddick, Del Potro also win

Many highly anticipated third round matches took place on Thursday at the AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo with majority of the higher seeded players coming out victorious. Three of the higher seeded players including Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tommy Robredo and Mikhail Youzhny were less fortunate as they lost today, hurting their chances tremendously in locking up a spot in the year end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

In a match between World No. 5 David Ferrer (pictured) and Japanese wild card entrant and World No. 593 Takao Suzuki, the more experienced and crafty Spaniard came out successfully, winning the three set battle, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Suzuki, who entered this week’s tournament without winning consecutive matches since this event in 2006 when he reached the quarterfinals, broke serve twice in the first set to take the lead. Ferrer quickly regrouped and did not let the Tokyo resident back into the match, as he served up three aces, while breaking serve on four of eleven opportunities. Ferrer, the defending champion in Tokyo, advances to his tenth quarterfinal of the year, but first since the July tournament Bastad. Ferrer next meets No. 5 seed Juan Martin Del Potro for a spot in the semifinals.

The 20-year-old Argentine defeated No. 11 seed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, 6-1, 6-3, in just over an hour. Del Potro has now won 27 out of his last 28 matches, which includes four singles titles since July. The Argentine broke serve on five of eight chances, while Nieminen was only able to break once throughout the match. If Del Potro wins the tournament this week, he would jump from No. 10 to No. 8 in the ATP race points to the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

No. 2 seed and last week’s China Open champion Andy Roddick fired 20 aces this afternoon on his way to a convincing, 7-6(2), 6-2, victory over Austrian Jurgen Melzer. The American has now hit 57 over aces after playing in two matches this week. Roddick now improves his season record to 43-13, which includes three titles and a quarterfinal performance at the US Open in September.

“I was a little sluggish last night, so I was pleased to have a quicker match tonight,” said Roddick.

Roddick will next meet Viktor Troicki of Serbia in the quarterfinals. Troicki was trailing in his match against Tsonga, when the young Frenchman retired with an abdominal strain injury. Tsonga was leading 7-5, 1-2 at the time of the injury. Currently ranked at a career best No. 65 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, Troicki beat Roddick in their last meeting in three sets in the quarterfinals of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington. Troicki ended up reaching the finals in Washington, where he lost a close match to Del Potro.

Other notable match results from Thursday included Beijing Olympic silver medallist Fernando Gonzlaez of Chile dispatching Jacksonville based American Amer Delic, 6-4, 7-6(4), and Frenchman Richard Gasquet easily dispatching Japanese teenage sensation Kei Nishikori, 6-1, 6-2. Also advancing was No. 9 Tomas Berdych and No. 12 Rainer Schuettler. Berdych and Schuettler were seeded players who upset their higher seeded opponents on Day Four action. Berdych shocked No. 6 Robredo, 7-6(6), 6-2, while Schuettler upset No. 8 Youzhny, 6-3, 6-7(12), 6-4.