Second seed Stanislas Wawrinka advanced to the quarter-finals of the Portugal Open with a hard-fought victory over Spain’s Albert Ramos in Oeiras on Thursday.
Ramos shocked the Swiss with a stunning first set but Wawrinka recovered to claim a 1-6 6-3 6-4 triumph and set up a last-eight meeting with Gastao Elias.
Portuguese wild card Elias, 22, overcame Denis Istomin 3-6 6-1 6-4 to reach his first ATP quarter-final.
Spain’s Tommy Robredo also advanced, thanks to a straight-sets win over Robin Haase. The Dutchman was broken twice in each set as Robredo eased to a 6-4 6-4 victory.
Third seed Andreas Seppi of Italy will be the next test for the Spaniard after he toppled Alejandro Falla 6-4 6-0.
In the women’s draw, third seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova advanced to the semi-finals after a battling win over Elena Vesnina.
It looked to be plain sailing for the world number 19 after she secured the opening set 6-3 but her fellow Russian was not giving up and took the second on a tie-break.
The third also went to a decider but this time Pavlyuchenkova was to get the upper hand to close out a 6-3 6-7 (3/7) 7-6 (7/3) win.
She will face Romina Oprandi next after the Swiss shocked former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Kuznetsova has slipped to 45 in the world and Oprandi made short work of her more illustrious opponent as she clinched to a 6-2 6-2 victory.
The other semi-final will be between defending champion Kaia Kanepi and Carla Suarez Navarro after both claimed straight-sets wins on Thursday.
Suarez Navarro was a 6-2 6-4 winner against Monica Puig while Kanepi saw off Ayumi Morita 6-4 6-3.
