体坛英语新闻：S Africa's Wolmarans reaches quarterfinals at ATP Soweto Open

JOHANNESBURG, April 15 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's budding star Fritz Wolmarans beat much experienced Fernando Vicente of Spain 6-1 6-4 in the second round of the ATP Soweto Open at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Complex in Soweto on a sun-splattered Wednesday afternoon.

    Wolmarans, who had upset second seed Gilles Muller in the opening round, stays on course for a brilliant comeback campaign after a year out of international tennis because of knee surgery.

    Wolmarans' prolonged absence from tennis has resulted in his ranking plummeting to 1537th from 270th and he views the current event in Soweto as a new beginning to his career.

    The towering, long-haired Wolmarans is the first South African who reached the quarterfinals of the R1-million Soweto event and he now aims to surpass his best-ever performance on the ATP circuit - a semifinal place in a tournament in Texas two years ago.

    His victory over the cagey Vicente was crafted on his devastating serve, which enabled him to take a quick fire 3-0 lead in the first set and visibly unnerve the 32 year-old Spaniard.

    The swarthy Cape Town player started the 1hr 1min match with an ace from his first delivery and finished the game like a house on fire with four aces in the last game that left Vicente as motionless as a statue.

    The Spaniard complained that the fourth ace in this final serving bombardment should have been ruled out and he hurled his racket across the court like a hammer thrower in an athletic event at the finish.

    "I don't think it really made much different at that stage," said Wolmarans, who now faces Joseph Sirianni of Austria in the quarterfinals.

    Sirianni advanced after outclassing Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland 3-6 6-3 7-6 (12-10) in a 2hr 30min marathon.

    Equally dour, dogged and vacillating was Israeli Harel Levy's 7-5 5-7 7-6 (12-10) grinding win over Austria's Steven Koubek in 2hr 24min, with Kkoubek also surrendering a match-point in the third-set tiebreaker.

    In contrast, Brazilian fourth-seed Thiago Alverez joined the last eight after Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin retired with a foot injury when trailing 3-1 in the opening set.

    The Soweto Open is part of the ATP challenger tour, a springboard circuit for up-and-coming players to earn ranking points to enter the world tour, and will be followed by an ITF women's event.