Ferrer leads top seeds into Auckland quarters

Ferrer will play Jack Sock in the first semi-final on Friday after the American came back from a set down to record a 1-6 6-4 6-4 win against Kevin Anderson.

Following this win he had to play his doubles partner Vasek Pospisil; Sock performed well here as he comfortably saw off the Canadian 6-2 6-4.

Ferrer, a four-time victor in Sydney, took a wild card into the event after losing in the first round of the Qatar Open last week.

Second seed Tsonga fell to his first defeat of the year, having blown a match point when 6-3 6-5 up in the second set, with Bautista Agut winning the subsequent tie-break thanks partly to a run of five consecutive points.

Lukas Rosol hits a forehand at the ASB Classic on Thursday.

“It was like that yesterday, there’s a two-hour period where I’m playing where I felt pretty good, but outside of that, when I get off the court, right now my head is killing me”. “It was a hard day, started out I woke up with some flu-like symptoms and didn’t know if I was going to be able to play”.

While Sock will desperately hope to play in Saturday’s final, he admitted that he might be too ill to play. “We were talking about it in warm-up today… a few people have their own things”, Sock told reporters in Auckland.

He said the key for him was consistency, adding that “it’s my game”.

Asked if Sock knows of any other athletes with a similar tradition, he deadpanned: “I don’t know another athlete with the last name Sock”.

Defending champion Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic opens his campaign with a first-round clash against Spain s Roberto Bautista Agut on Tuesday.

While I usually tend to give the edge to good defense over good offense, these two players are simply in different phases of their careers.

The 33-year-old Ferrer, who was granted a wild card and took the top seeding, was at his retrieving best on Thursday, forcing Rosol to continually play an extra shot, while he converted three of his four break point opportunities.

“[Rosol] begun the match playing very good”, says Ferrer.