Hutchins and Kerr make Tokyo QFs
Japanese wild cards Kondo & Soeda up next…
Ross Hutchins and Jordan Kerr saw off stiff opposition in the form of Juan Monaco and Radek Stepanek to reach the quarter-finals of the Japan Open Tennis Championships.
The Anglo-Aussie duo were made to work late into the night to post a 7-5 4-6 10-7 victory against the Czech-Argentine pair, and will face Japanese wild cards Go Soeda and Hiroki Kondo in the last eight.
Hutchins, who earlier revealed his plans to work on a new partnership with Romanian Horia Tecau after splitting with Stephen Huss, and his Australian teammate Kerr produced a spirited display to take a tight encounter which featured few opportunities for either pair to dictate proceedings.
Despite having the upper hand at times during the match, Stepanek and Monaco were made to pay as the Anglo-Aussie pair converted all three break point chances at the first time of asking before the match was settled on a tie-break.
The Czech-Argentine duo were made to pay on their second serve as Hutchins and Kerr edged ahead to seal the match shortly before midnight, earning a showdown with local favourites Soeda and Kondo.
The wildcards came through a topsy-turvy encounter against No.4 seeds Travis Parrott and Filip Polasek before prevailing 6-2 5-7 10-7.
