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American Mardy Fish claimed his first win in five meetings with Radek Stepanek on Thursday, advancing to the quarter-finals of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Czech. The 10th-seeded Fish won 72 per cent of points on serve and broke Stepanek three times for victory in one hour and 34 minutes.

"That was the monkey jumping off my back," said Fish. "He's been a very tough opponent for me over the years. Not only has he beaten me, he's beaten me pretty soundly most of the time. I certainly felt good. I feel fresh and strong. This summer has gone well for me as far as getting my match fitness back. I have had a lot of great wins on that court here and played a lot of great matches." 

The 30-year-old Fish is through to his third quarter-final or better in as many weeks, having reached the last eight in Toronto (l. to Gasquet) and the semi-finals in Washington, D.C. (l. to Haas). He improved to an 18-10 match record on the season.

Fish is bidding to reach the final of this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament for the third time, after runner-up finishes in 2003 (l. to Roddick) and 2010 (l. to Federer), and goes onto face World No. 1 Roger Federer in the quarter-finals.

Sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro fought hard for his quarter-final berth, battling past Serbia’s Viktor Troicki 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-1 in two hours and 16 minutes. The Argentine improved to a 6-0 career lead over the No. 32-ranked Troicki in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

The 23-year-old del Potro notched his 47th win of the season, highlighted by winning two ATP World Tour titles in Marseille (d. Llodra) and Estoril (d. Gasquet) and capturing the bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics (d. Djokovic).

Del Potro will face a quarter-final clash against French lucky loser Jeremy Chardy, who upset defending champion Andy Murray 6-4, 6-4.

Croatia’s Marin Cilic defeated Pablo Andujar of Spain 7-6(4), 6-2 to reach his fifth quarter-final of the season. The 12th seed broke serve five times for victory in two hours and 10 minutes, improving to a 30-13 match record on the season.

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