Delray Beach, United States: Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka booked his first ATP quarter-final on Thursday with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Marinko Matosevic at Delray Beach.
Nishioka, a 19-year-old left-hander, notched just his second tour-level win, converting five of his nine break opportunities in the 69-minute encounter.
“I’m so happy,” said Nishioka, ranked 154th in the world. “At the beginning I was so nervous, but I think he was nervous, too. I just tried to make every ball. Every shot, I was focused on it.”
Nishioka is the first teenager to reach the Delray Beach quarter-finals since Bernard Tomic in 2012.
He’ll face Australia’s Tomic for a place in the semi-finals. Tomic, now 22, on Thursday held on to beat eighth-seeded Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-4.
Tomic withstood 13 aces from Troicki, who is his doubles partner this week, sealing the win in just under two hours.
“Today was very cold so it was tough for both of us,” said Tomic, who reached his fourth quarter-final of the season.
“It was good tennis. We both served pretty good. I was happy to win because it’s a tough match playing Viktor.”
American Donald Young continued his strong start to the season, reaching his third quarter-final of 2015 with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Colombian Alejandro Gonzalez.
Young, ranked 56th in the world, needed just 67 minutes to book a meeting with third-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Dolgopolov beat American Tim Smyczek 6-2, 6-4 to reach his first quarter-final of 2015.
