By ,
Published January 13, 2015
South African Kevin Anderson beat Ecuador's Emilio Gomez in straight sets Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals at the inaugural Colombia Open tennis event.
Anderson, seeded second, earned a 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) triumph on the hardcourts at Centro de Alto Rendimiento. Anderson's next opponent will be sixth-seeded Colombian crowd favorite Santiago Giraldo. He reached the quarterfinals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Aussie qualifier Chris Guccione.
An upset came when 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic took out third-seeded Dutchman Igor Sijsling, 6-3, 7-6 (16-14). The towering Karlovic swatted 24 aces, compared to only nine for the Sijsling, and the Croat recorded the only break of the match in the opening set.
Also Wednesday, fifth-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino defeated Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic, 6-1, 6-2. Mannarino will play Karlovic in the quarterfinals.
The top half of the draw plays its second-round matches Thursday, including top seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia. He'll face Belgium's Ruben Bemelmans.
The winner of this $638,000 tournament will collect $115,200.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/anderson-advances-in-colombia