Japan's fifth-ranked Kei Nishikori, last year's US Open runner-up, advanced to the ATP and WTA Washington Open quarter-finals Thursday by dispatching Argentina's Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 6-4.

Second seed Nishikori, the highest-ranked player in the field of the US Open warm-up event after Britain's Andy Murray crashed out in his opening match, never faced a break point in winning after 92 minutes.

The 25-year-old Asian number one will next face the winner of a later match between Australia's Sam Groth and Spanish seventh seed Feliciano Lopez.

Women's top seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia also reached the last eight, defeating Britain's Naomi Broady 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).

Drizzle interrupted matches time and again for brief periods, disrupting rhythm and forcing umpires to repeatedly check lines for slickness.

Nishikori broke Mayer for a 4-3 edge and held twice more to take the first set in 59 minutes, then broke again in the penultimate game of the match when the South American netted a forehand volley after having saved two other break points.

Nishikori won both prior meetings with Mayer at Grand Slams without dropping a set, in the second round at Wimbledon in 2013 and last year in the third round at Flushing Meadows on his way to the final, where he lost to Marin Cilic.

Croatian third seed Cilic, a possible Nishikori semi-final foe, was to meet American Sam Querrey in a later match.

Nishikori seeks his third title of the year after Memphis and Barcelona and the 10th of his career.

In other women's matches, Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova ousted Swiss third seed Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-4 to book a quarter-final date with American Christina McHale, who won seven of the last nine games to outlast Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva 6-2, 1-6, 7-5.
Source: AFP