Marinko Matosevic will face US Open runner-up Kei Nishikori in the Malaysian Open quarterfinals after a second straight win in Kuala Lumpur while compatriot Casey Dellacqua has bowed out of the Wuhan Open in China at the hands of former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki.
Matosevic edged Japan’s Go Soeda 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 on Wednesday night after having removed Aussie rising star Nick Krygios from the tournament earlier in the week.
Nishikori collected a straight sets win over American Rajeev Ram 6-2 6-3 to advance just two and a half weeks since making his first Grand Slam appearance.
“I’m feeling almost perfect. Everything worked well, my movement, my strokes. I’ve just got to practice tomorrow and be ready for the last eight,” he said.
The current world No.8 admitted the experience of last month’s US Open final defeat to Marin Cilic had sapped the 24-year-old, but said wins against some of the world’s best, including Novak Djokovic, had done wonders for his confidence.
“It took me a couple of days to recover from the defeat. I was disappointed to have come so far and lost, but I did great things in the tournament, beating three top 10 guys to the final.
“I certainly gained a lot of confidence from the US Open.”
Despite producing career best form in recent months, Dellacqua didn’t provide much fight in the 6-0 6-3 loss to Wozniacki, missing out on a quarter-final appearance against Timea Bacsinszky, who surprised fourth seed Maria Sharapova overnight.
Coming of a hard-fought, three-set win against Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Dellacqua joined the ousted Sharapova after a shock 7-6 7-5 loss to the Swiss qualifier.
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