QF Entrants: Grigor Through in Istanbul, Murray in Munich and Garcia-Lopez & Borna Coric in Estoril

World no.11 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria booked his quarterfinal spot in the inaugural TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open by defeating Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev. Others who completed the QF line-up on Thursday include; Ivan Dodig of Croatia, Pablo Cuevas of Argentina and Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil. In the BMW Open in Munich, Andy Murray of Great Britain began his quest with entry to the quarterfinal after beating Russian qualifier Mischa Zverev. Joining Murray as other quarterfinalist at Munich were; Lukas Rosol, Dominic Thiem and Gerald Melzer. In the Portuguese city of Estoril, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez continued his superb form after winning last week’s BRD Nastase Trophy at Bucharest. In the Millennium Estoril Open, Garcia-Lopez defeated second seed Kevin Anderson to book his spot in the quarterfinals. Joining him in the fray were; Croat Borna Coric, Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller and Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta.

Second seed and world no.11, Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria entered the quarterfinal of the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open on Thursday, when he scored an easy 6-3, 6-2 victory over Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan. Dimitrov was not challenged himself but Golubev presented him with 11 break opportunities and he converted 3 of them. That was enough for the Bulgarian to win the match. For a place in the semifinal, Dimitrov will have to get past Croatia’s Ivan Dodig, who prevailed over Dusan Lajovic of Serbia in three tough sets taking 2 hours and 37 minutes. Dodig lost the first set 5-7 but came back to take the next two to finish the 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 victory. No.3 seed Argentine Pablo Cuevas also entered the quarterfinals with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili. For the semifinal berth, Cuevas will take on Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, who came through after defeating Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 7-6, 6-3.

In the BMW Open by FWG AG at Munich, Andy Murray had an easy match against Russian qualifier Mischa Zverev. Murray took 75 minutes in beating Zverev 6-2, 6-2. For a place in the semifinal, the Scot will face Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic. Rosol entered the quarterfinals after beating Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-5, 6-2. In the third match for the quarterfinals, Austria’s Dominic Thiem caused an upset by beating last year’s runner-up and eighth seed Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-3, 6-0 in less than an hour. For the place in the semifinals, Thiem will face fellow countryman Gerald Melzer, who came through after Spain’s Pablo Andujar retired mid-way during their match due to a hip injury.

In the Millennium Estoril Open at Portugal, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez was in top form in knocking out the second seed South African Kevin Anderson in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Garcia-Lopez has had a good 2015 season so far with victories in the PBZ Zagreb Indoors, where he defeated Italian Andreas Seppi in the final and just last week he lifted the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy in prevailing over Jiri Vesely in the championship game. Earlier in the semifinals at Bucharest, Garcia-Lopez had beaten world no.15 Gael Monfils of France. Garcia-Lopez’s quarterfinal opponent will be Croat teenager Borna Coric, who defeated Portugal’s Rui Machado 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 in 2 hours and 27 minutes. No. 8 seed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg also made it to the last eight at Estoril after beating Spain’s Albert Montanes 4-6, 6-3, 7-6. It was a tough match, in which Muller had to save three match points. Muller’s next match will be against another Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, who prevailed over compatriot David Vega Hernandez 6-1, 6-2 to move into the quarterfinals.