Tennis: Heineken Open day four preview

Kevin Anderson of South Africa. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Herald tennis reporters David Skipwith and Michael Burgess preview day four of the Heineken Open in Auckland.

Dark horses face off

The quarterfinal action gets underway with a match-up between two relative minnows, Frenchman Adrian Mannarino and Columbian Alejandro Falla.

Mannarino has been the quiet achiever over the first three days and was fortuitous to register a second round 6-2 2-1 win over Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut, after the third seed was forced to retire injured.

Meanwhile, Falla, ranked 112 in the world, looked assured in his 6-2 6-4 win over France's Kenny De Schepper and could surprise his 44th ranked opponent.

Two big hitters collide

The evening session begins with a play-off between two of the better remaining title prospects, American world No39 Steve Johnson and South African world No 16, Kevin Anderson.

The big serving Anderson took a while to warm into his second round match against German Jan-Lennard Struff but finished strongly to overcome German Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6(6) 6-1.

His opponent also impressed in his 6-7(3) 6-4 6-1 victory over Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta and brings a strong serve and forehand game into the quarterfinal.

Anderson will be hungry to avenge his defeat to Johnson at last year's tournament although he squared the ledger later in 2014 at Delray Beach.

Holding out for [doubles] heroes

Michael Venus and Artem Sitak brought the crowd to their feet last night, with a stunning upset victory over the third seeds in the first round of the doubles. They'll face Dominic Inglot (Britain) and Florin Mergea (Romania) in the last match on centre court tonight.

The Kiwis will again be the outsiders in terms of experience and rankings, but they'll be hard to stop with another vocal crowd behind them.

Can Lucas go further?

It wouldn't surprise to see the New Zealand crowd get behind Lucas Pouille today, after the Frenchman was so impressive against Michael Venus yesterday. Pouille plays Spanish journeyman Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who reached a career high ranking of 38 in 2012 but has spent most of his career in the lower reaches of the top 100. However, Ramos-Vinolas was impressive in dispatching 2014 finalist Yen -Hsun Lu yesterday.

Draw opens for Donald

American Donald Young might now be eyeing just his second ATP singles final, after he has watched seeds fall all around him. Young was expecting to be playing the World No 13 Ernests Gulbis today - instead he faces Czech Jiri Vesely, ranked almost 50 places lower. It's hard to pick a winner in this battle of the lefties; Young has much more experience but will need to be at his best to defuse the powerful Vesely serve.