By Alberto Amalfi | Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Joao Sousa beat Henri Laaksonen, 6-2, 7-5, after Brazilian Joao Souza lost to Stephane Robert, 6-1, 6-4.
Photo credit: Valeriano Di Domenico/Swiss Open Gstaad
Center court fans weren't seeing double or stuck in the tennis twilight zone.
In a scheduling quirk, Joao Sousa won and Joao Souza lost hours apart in Gstaad today.
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Sixth-seeded Portuguese Joao Sousa stopped Swiss wild card Henri Laaksonen, 6-2, 7-5 hours after Stephane Robert defeated 86th-ranked Brazilian Joao Souza, 6-1, 6-4.
The Sousa and Souza results bookended a day in which fifth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci swept Kimmer Coppejans, 6-2, 6-3, and seventh-seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta crushed 2013 champion Mikhail Youzhny 6-1, 6-2, in 56 minutes. He will play Robin Haase for a place in the last eight.
Haase rallied past Marcel Granollers, 1-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4.
Fresh off his run to the Umag final where he fell to Dominic Thiem on Sunday, Joao Sousa raised his 2015 clay-court record to 15-8. The 43rd-ranked Sousa will face Denis Istomin for a quarterfinal spot.