• ATP Tour

Ferrer tested but Haas eases through

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David Ferrer's designs on a fourth title in Auckland at the Heineken Open were put to the test by Yen-Hsun Lu but they did not break and the Spaniard won 6-4 2-6 6-3.

Ferrer only won four points more than his opponent from Chinese Taipei in a tight match in which both players broke each other's serve four times from 10 opportunities.

The 30-year-old Ferrer now has a quarter-final clash with Slovakia's Lukas Lacko and carries a 2-0 head-to-head record into the match. If Ferrer does triumph overall in New Zealand it will be his 19th ATP World Tour title.

Third seed Tommy Haas, who had a first-round bye, beat Dutchman Igor Sijsling 6-3 6-4 in under an hour to put him through to the quarters in his first appearance at the tournament since 2000.

At the Apia International in Sydney, top seed John Isner lost to fellow American Ryan Harrison 6-4 6-4. Harrison had lost his two previous meetings with the 6ft 9in Isner in straight sets on both occasions but he held his nerve in Australia and faced down all three of the break points against him in the match.

Denis Istomin beat fourth seed Fernando Verdasco 6-3 6-3 to set up a meeting with Kevin Anderson, who in turn had beaten Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-4.

Australian Bernard Tomic also pulled off an upset in knocking out fifth seed Florian Mayer 7-6(4) 6-2 and served up 14 aces in the process.

Tomic will meet defending champion Jarkko Nieminen in the quarter-finals while Harrison faces Julien Benneteau, who advanced after sixth seed Radek Stepanek retired injured.

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