Frenchman Gael Monfils makes winning start at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart
Wednesday 10 June 2015 22:08, UK
Gael Monfils made a successful start to his Mercedes Cup campaign, beating Andreas Haider-Maurer in Stuttgart.
The flamboyant Frenchman hit 18 aces in the 7-6 (7-6) 7-6 (7-5) second-round success, which took 87 minutes.
Monfils was playing his first grass-court match of the season after reaching the fourth round of the French Open where he was beaten in four sets by Roger Federer.
He will face sixth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in the quarter-finals, following the German's 6-4 6-4 success over Jerzy Janowicz.
Australia's Sam Groth pulled off a second-round shock by recovering from losing the first set to beat third-seed Feliciano Lopez to reach the quarter-finals.
The 27-year-old from Melbourne, who is ranked 66 in the world, dug deep to claim a 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (8-6) win over the Spaniard, who is 14th in the rankings, having held his nerve in a desperately tight third-set.
Groth has the chance to claim another scalp when he faces Serbia's Viktor Troicki in the quarter-finals.
Eighth seed Troicki needed three sets and exactly two hours to also reach the last eight as he saw off 18-year-old German Alexander Zverev, the youngest player in the top 100, 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 6-3.
