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9/24/09 4:16 PM | Ricky Dimon
Juan Monaco defeats Pere Riba in straight sets to reach the Bucharest quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon. Next up for Monaco is Pablo Cuevas.
Only three seeds remain at the BCR Open Romania after two rounds, but Juan Monaco has not come close to catching the upset bug.
After dismissing Julio Silva 6-2, 6-4 in the opening round, Monaco cruised past Pere Riba 6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon. Bucharest's No. 3 seed needed one hour and 18 minutes to set up an all-seeded quarterfinal clash with No. 8 Pablo Cuevas.
Riba, a Spaniard ranked 157th in the world, did well just to stay relatively competitive in the first set with an in-form Monaco. The underdog surrendered just one service break, but he never mounted a challenge against his opponent's serve. Despite putting in just 48 percent of his first deliveries, Monaco lost a mere five points in five service games and did not face a single break point.
More of the same continued in set two, as Monaco again could not find his first serve (47 percent) yet still eased through every service game. The 37th-ranked Argentine dropped only three points in four service games and took care of all 10 points when he had to toss in a second serve. Two breaks of servce were more than enough to give Monaco a chance to serve out the match at 5-2. He did so without any trouble, finishing it off on his first match point with an impressive serve-and-volley combination.
Monaco is 2-0 lifetime at the ATP level against Cuevas and 3-0 overall, with all three previous encounters having come on clay. The only other remaining seeded player in Bucharest is No. 5 Albert Montanes, who has a quarterfinal date with Fabio Fognini. Top-seeded Victor Hanescu lost in the first round while No. 2 Nicolas Almagro fell to Fognini in round two.
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