Spain’s David Ferrer booked a spot in the Valencia Open quarterfinals with a comfortable 6-2, 6-1 victory Thursday over Frenchman Julien Benneteau.
Playing in his fifth tournament in as many weeks, Ferrer showed no signs of fatigue during his match at the indoor L’Agora facility in this eastern city.
After saving two break points in the fifth game, Ferrer put his foot on the accelerator to grab two consecutive service breaks and race away with the first set.
Benneteau then tried in the second set to break down Ferrer’s backhand with high balls, but the tactic bore little fruit as the top seed established his complete dominion over the baseline.
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The Frenchman appeared discouraged after dropping his serve in the fourth game of the second set, allowing Ferrer to cruise to victory in just over one hour and 10 minutes.
Ferrer, who has already qualified for the eight-man, year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, will next take on big-serving Pole Jerzy Janowicz – a 6-2, 7-5 winner over Portugal’s Joao Souza – in Friday’s quarterfinals.
That will be a rematch of last year’s Paris Masters final, which the Spaniard won.
