World No.8 Janko Tipsarevic made a winning start to his Mercedes Cup campaign, dismissing Belgium’s Steve Darcis 6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tennis tournament in Stuttgart.

The Serb capitalized broke 4 times and won 79 per cent of points on first serve for victory in 79 minutes. “I felt I was focussed from the first till the last point,” said Tipsarevic. “I haven't played a lot of tennis lately, I had a couple of days off after Wimbledon, but I'm not the kind of guy who doesn't play a lot of tennis and comes and suddenly feels great even though it looked like it today. I was really anxious and nervous at the beginning of the match. Luckily I managed to establish control by breaking the guy pretty early and then later on it was easier.”

World No. 87 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat his fellow Spaniard and 2011 Mercedes Cup runner-up Pablo Andujar 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 in a tough three set encounter in just over 2 hours. Garcia-Lopez broke 7 times to win this match. Germany’s Bjorn Phau edged Czech Lukas Rosol 7-6(3), 7-6(2) in a match featuring 17 aces. “He has a very strong serve, strong groundstrokes, didn’t give me a lot of rhythm,” stated Phau. “I played a really good tie-break in both sets. He’s a very difficult player to play mentally.”

Phau was joined in the quarter-finals by countryman Dustin Brown, who smacked 19 aces as he overcame France’s Benoit Paire 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1 in one hour and 38 minutes. “He’s a very dangerous player,” commented Brown. “In the third set, I said, ‘No matter what happens, I’m going to win or lose this set on my terms.’ I played a lot more aggressive and made him play my game.”