Czech Tomas Berdych overpowered Italy's Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4 on Friday for a place in the semifinals of the ATP Rotterdam Open on Friday.
But the second-seeded perfectionist was slightly annoyed after losing his only serve of the match in the second set, a mistake which he quickly rectified to get the contest back on level-pegging.
Berdych claimed his 67-minute victory over the 45th-ranked Seppi on a fifth ace of the afternoon at the Ahoy Stadium after breaking the Italian three times.
Azarenka in last eight
At Doha, Victoria Azarenka swept into the quarterfinals of the WTA Qatar Open with a swift demolition of Romanian Simona Halep on Thursday.
The world's top-ranked player won 10 games in a row to prevail 6-3, 6-1 against 63rd-ranked Halep, who produced only brief moments of brilliance to secure a break in either set.
But that was not enough to quell Azarenka, who stepped up her game a few notches up after trailing 3-1 in the first set and raced to victory thereafter.
Harrison wins thriller
At San Jose, American Ryan Harrison saved two match points before storming through a third-set tiebreaker to reach the SAP Open quarterfinals with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(0) victory over compatriot Robbie Ginepri on Thursday. Fourth seed and 2009 champion Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic was the highest-ranked player to fall when he was upset 7-6(4), 7-6(2) by Belgian Steve Darcis, who next plays Julien Benneteau of France.
The results: At Rotterdam (ABN Amro World tennis tournament):Quarterfinals: Tomas Berdych bt Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4; Second round: Berdych bt Marcos Baghdatis 3-0 (retd.); Juan Martin del Potro bt Karol Beck 6-4, 7-5; Viktor Troicki bt Jesse Huta Gulang 7-6(2), 6-3.
At San Jose (SAP Open): Second round: Steve Darcis bt Radek Stepanek 7-6(4), 7-6(2); Dimitar Kutrovsky bt Blake Strode 7-5, 6-3; Kevin Anderson bt Matthew Ebden 6-1, 6-2.
Julien Benneteau bt Gilles Muller 6-2, 6-4; Ryan Harrison bt Robby Ginepri 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(0); Denis Istomin bt Michael Russell 6-2, 6-2.
At Sao Paulo (Brasil Open): Second round: Nicolas Almagro bt Victor Hanescu 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3; Carlos Berlocq bt Potito Starace 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Fernando Verdasco bt Javier Marti 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-5; Albert Ramos bt Igor Andreev 7-6(4), 7-6(4); Filippo Volandri bt Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
At Doha (WTA Qatar Total Open): Quarterfinals: Samantha Stosur bt Monica Niculescu 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.
Third round: Monica Niculescu bt Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6(5), 6-4; Victoria Azarenka bt Simona Halep 6-3, 6-1; Samantha Stosur bt Petra Cetkovska 6-3, 6-2; Marion Bartoli bt Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3, 6-3; Lucie Safarova bt Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6(6), 6-3.
