By GARY LANEY
Advocate sportswriter
Most of the tournament’s big names have already been eliminated, but that didn’t bother Germany’s Benjamin Becker on Wednesday.
The top remaining seed at the Price LeBlanc Lexus Pro Tennis Classic advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) win over Australian Carsten Ball on the same day he teamed with countryman Matthias Bachinger to eliminate a team of former LSU players, Michael Venus and Colt Gaston, in doubles.
Bobby Reynolds, Vincent Spadea and Frank Dancevic, the top three seeds, had all lost in the first round of the $50,000 USTA Challenger, which has been plagued by cool and windy weather. Becker made sure the top-seeded curse didn’t continue on a Wednesday where the seeded performers went 4-0 combined in singles and doubles.
“We all know how tough it was the last few days,” said Becker, ranked No. 127 in the world, after he advanced on a warmer, but blustery, Wednesday at the Lamar Tennis Center. “The top three seeds lost in tough conditions and I’m the four seed. But it doesn’t matter because we are so close, anybody who plays this tournament can win this tournament.”
Becker, who advanced to play countryman Benedikt Dorsch in an 11 a.m. quarterfinal today, has taken over the favorite’s role in a tournament dominated by Germans. Dorsch advanced Wednesday by beating Lithuanian Ricardis Berankis, while Bachinger also reached the quarterfinals in singles with a three-set win over Latvian Andis Juska.
That made German players 8-0 in the tournament, including wins in doubles.
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