Seventh seed Florian Mayer battled his way into the quarterfinals today with a tough win against qualifier Richard Berankis in the second round 6-4 4-6 6-4.
It didn’t look good for the Lithuanian from the outset, with Mayer appearing mighty fresh as he swiftly covered the court to take a three-game lead before securing the set 6-4.
But world No.87 Berankis, who sits 50 spots behind the German in the rankings, wasn’t going down without a fight.
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With Mayer again off to a three-game lead in the second, Berankis pulled out all stops to snatch back six of the next seven games and claim a set for himself.
Fired up for the deciding third set and with Mayer looking tired, they battled it out game for game to 5-4, but the German was out to finish what he started, taking victory in two hours and 11 minutes.
Throughout the match Mayer and Berankis mixed up play, entertaining crowds with tactful soft strokes landing just over the net while also following through with some strong hits from the baseline.
Mayer will now face either No.4 seed Mardy Fish or 2009 men’s singles winner Radek Stepanek in the quarterfinals.
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