Ebden reaches Newport quarters, Groth out

Jul 19, 2017 - 7:57 PM Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden has upset sixth seed Lukas Lacko to progress to the quarter-finals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport.

Ebden, the world No.249, defeated Lacko 6-1 7-6 (7-2) to book a final-eight showdown with Germany's Tobias Kamke.

The 29-year-old Ebden was clinical on serve and broke his opponent twice in the first set before overwhelming the Slovak in the second-set tiebreak.

Meanwhile, Australian Sam Groth was sent packing by top seed John Isner.

In the battle of two of tennis's biggest servers, Groth was no match for the American world No.21, beaten 6-2 6-4 in a tick over an hour.

A frustrated Groth made too many unforced errors, particularly on the backhand side.

Japan-born Australian Akira Santillan won the second set against Bjorn Fratangelo but the American recovered to prevail 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-1.

Croatian second seed and defending champion Ivo Karlovic reached the quarters after a 6-4 6-4 win over America's Denis Kudla.

Earlier, Kamke took out tournament third seed Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (7-5) 7-5.

Mannarino's French compatriot and tournament fourth seed Pierre-Hugues Herbert advanced though with a 7-5 2-6 6-3 win over Spain's Adrian Menendez-Maceiras.

American Dennis Novikov accounted for Canadian Frank Dancevic 6-3 6-2, while Peter Gojowczyk of Germany beat Russian Konstantin Kravchuk 2-6 6-4 6-4.

Source: AAP