After winning his first round match against Grigor Dimitrov, former Top 20 player Xavier Malisse battled hard to overcome second seed Florian Mayer 7-5,4-6,6-4 in the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy in Bucharest.
Making his debut at this ATP World Tour 250 clay court tennis tournament, the Belgian is now through to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season, improving his match record to 6-9.
"I played well," said Malisse. "I think we played a good match and I’m very happy to win at the end. It feels good. This year’s been tough for me and it’s the first time I’ll play quarter-finals this year. Physically I feel good after a long match. I worked hard last week and I’m happy it’s paying off."
Mayer on the other hand has had a poor start to the season and his record stands at 4-10 after this defeat. The German was the defending champion at the event.