VIENNA – Tommy Haas won for the 500th time in his career, reaching the milestone by defeating Jesse Levine of the U.S. 6-4, 6-2 Thursday at the Erste Bank Open.
Haas is the 38th player in the modern era to have won 500 matches. Only three others are still active — Roger Federer (871), Rafael Nadal (583) and Lleyton Hewitt (566).
"It's incredible I've reached that mark today," said Haas, a German who struggled with shoulder and hip injuries before returning to the top 20 this week. "I had hardly played for 3 1/2 years before returning to the tour a year ago. I was even hungrier for success and getting to 500 wins became a major goal of mine."
Janko Tipsarevic, seeded second, reached his 13th quarterfinal of the season by defeating Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-3, 6-4. Tipsarevic plays Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia in the quarterfinals. Bedene defeated Donald Young of the U.S. 7-6 (4), 6-7 (2), 6-3.
Marinko Matosevic of Australia beat wild card Dominic Thiem of Austria 6-3, 7-6 (5) to set up a quarterfinal against top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro.
Haas, seeded third, saved two break points early in the second set against Levine but did not concede a game afterward.
"It wasn't easy, he is a very dangerous player," he said. "He attacked well but I got the right answers every time and served really well."
Tipsarevic, who is ranked ninth and looking to qualify for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals, dropped serve once in each set but dominated play from the baseline against Gulbis.
"I have to be pumped for every single point and not think what's going on behind me or ahead of me," the Serb said. "The only thing I care about now is winning my next match. I don't think about winning the tournament or about reaching London."
Tipsarevic said his changed attitude has helped him to become a top-10 player this year.
"I don't feel I improved my forehand, backhand or serve dramatically," he said. "I just feel that now I am living and breathing tennis outside of the tennis court as much as I am on the tennis court. ... This changed after winning the Davis Cup. I realized I wasn't getting any younger and that I would regret it if I realized one day that I could have reached more in my career."
The 55th-ranked Matosevic, who was on a six-match losing streak before the event, held serve throughout. Thiem, ranked 394th, had eight aces but missed out on his first career quarterfinal.
In other second-round play, Grega Zemlja of Slovenia beat Matthew Ebden of Australia 7-5, 6-4; and Paolo Lorenzi of Italy defeated Vasek Pospisil of Canada 6-4, 6-4.
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