Tommy Haas Edges Gulbis in Stuttgart 2013

Tommy Haas, the 1999 runner-up, recorded his third straight victory over Ernests Gulbis, on German soil, on Thursday at the MercedesCup.
Top seed Haas advanced to his ninth ATP World Tour quarter-final (or better) this season with a 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 victory in just over 90 minutes. Haas, 35, lost nine points in the first set.

"It was very nice to play in front of a great crowd," Haas told ATPWorldTour.com. "It is never easy to play Gulbis again in Germany – the third time in a row on German soil in the second round. It just came down to a few points here and there, so I am happy to have advanced to another quarter-final."

Haas will next play fifth seed Fabio Fognini, who beat Leonardo Mayer 6-1, 6-3.

Fourth seed Benoit Paire will have to overcome a 0-3 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Victor Hanescu on Friday if he is to reach his fourth ATP World Tour semi-final of the season.

Paire, one of 13 Frenchmen in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, reached the quarter-finals Thursday on his third appearance in Stuttgart when he defeated Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-1.

"It is always difficult to play after Wimbledon on clay courts," Paire told ATPWorldTour.com. "It was a very good match and I am happy to have beaten Davydenko in two sets. I have never beaten Hanescu in three matches, but I think I have made a lot of progress this year."

Hanescu, the 2009 runner-up, converted three of his four break point opportunities to beat Thomaz Bellucci 6-1, 6-4. So far this year, Hanescu has already advanced to two clay-court quarter-finals at the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy in Bucharest (l. to F. Mayer) and the Portugal Open in Oeiras (l. to Ferrer).

French Open Day 11 - Can Wawrinka Stop Rafa?

What a day we had, finally a French hero rising to the occasion to down a legend, but his work is not over indeed got 2 crucial matches ahead to be considered as a GS champ. Rise of underdogs as been the theme of the day will it continue another day? the biggest question is can Wawrinka somehow outset the off-color Rafa?

Haas has in him to beat Nole, but not sure Wawrinka has in him to take Rafa to even 4 sets let alone a win, but would certainly love a complete underdogs semi.

Schedule of Matches

Court Philippe Chatrier
2:00 PM Women's Singles - Quarterfinals
Jelena Jankovic (SRB) [18] vs. Maria Sharapova (RUS) [2]


Followed byMen's Singles - Quarterfinals
Rafael Nadal (ESP) [3] vs.Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) [9]

Court Suzanne Lenglen
2:00 PM Women's Singles - Quarterfinals
Maria Kirilenko (RUS) [12] vs.Victoria Azarenka (BLR) [3]

Men's Singles - Quarterfinals
Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs.Tommy Haas (GER) [12]

Jelena is a surprise semi's in my view, could get toasted at Sharapova's hands, Kirlenko vs Vika could be interesting, Two Maria's can do it.

I would love to see Wawrinka -Nadal match start atleast an hour early, so if miracle happen and Wawrinka upset Rafa I will be fully rooting for Haas, if not I would love to see Nole-Rafa semi's, so either Waw-Haas or Nole-Rafa, no other combination pls.

Tommy Haas got a good 7 odds to win the match, if people buying the hype of underdogs then Tommy's odds are eye catching. Wawrinka gets 10 odds on the other hand, I won't advice this unless somebody is an extreme gambler .

Let the theme "Rise of Underdogs" continue, most tennis fans want to see a new champ, let see whether Haas and Warinka has any say in it.