India's Rohan Bopanna stunned top seed Mardy Fish of USA at the $385,000 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport on Wednesday to advance into the first ATP quarter-final of his career.
Bopanna, who qualified for the grass-court ATP, prevailed 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 over Fish in the second round to set up a last eight clash with Davis Cup teammate, Prakash Amritraj.
Amritraj beat American Jesse Levine 7-5, 6-3 to equal his best performance at the tournament. He had reached the quarterfinals at Newport last year as well, going down 4-6 6-7(4) to France's Nicholas Mahut.
Bopanna served 14 aces, saved seven of nine break points and fought off one set point at 5/6 in the first-set tie-break.
The Bangalore resident, who came into the tournament at No. 374 in the Rankings, has won just nine ATP matches.
Fish becomes the latest victim of the 'Casino Curse'. No top seed in the tournament's 31-year history has ever won the event.
Bopanna said: "I continued the curse. I am sorry about that.
"I was not concerned about what ranking he was," he added. "I just went out there and played my game. I was aggressive and kept it simple. Every time you achieve something new (getting to a quarterfinal) it is exciting, and something you cherish. I cannot cherish it for too long, for I have to play again tomorrow."
Fish said: "If you told me I was going to break him twice, I would have felt comfortable thinking I had a good chance to win the match.
"Some guys have success here, where elsewhere, with true bounces, they do not succeed.
"It is extremely disappointing. I have never played well here. I so, so, so desperately want to do well here. Every year, I come in thinking I have the game and I am ready. Every year I leave here scratching my head."
With Amritraj and Bopanna set to clash in the quarterfinals, India is guaranteed to have a player in the semifinals.
