Del Porto reaches Paris Masters quarters for 3rd time

Argentine tennis pro Juan Martin del Potro on Thursday defeated Robin Haase of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-4, to earn a place in the Paris Masters quarterfinals for the third time in his career.

Del Potro, the No. 13 seed, struggled to hold his serve as he won just 68 and 61 percent of his first and second serve points respectively, reports Efe.

The former world No. 4, however, managed to break Haase's serve three times, seizing on all break points he was offered, while his serve broke only once.

The 29-year-old del-Potro needed one hour and 32 minutes to earn a fourth career win over Haase in as many matches, boosting his hopes of taking part in the season ending ATP Finals.

Del Potro ended Haase's best run ever in the Paris Masters after the Dutchman stunned forth seeded German Alexander Zverev in the previous round.

Eyeing his first win in the round of 8 at the tournament, Del Potro will play the winner of the match between sixth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and ninth seed American John Isner.

In his previous two attempts, Del Potro had to retire against Czech Radek Stepanek in 2009 and four years later he lost to Swiss Roger Federer.

Federer for his part, pulled out of this year's Paris Masters after winning the Shanghai title and Swiss Indoors Basel crown.

--IANS

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