Sela through to quarter-finals at Nottingham

Dudi Sela’s preparations for next week’s Wimbledon Championships continue to gather pace after he beat Benjamin Becker to book his place in the quarter-finals of the Nottingham Open.

Starting well, the Israeli had a chance to break the German’s serve in just the second game, though spurned two opportunities to gain an early advantage.

He wouldn’t those miss out in Becker’s next service game, though he needed the third chance to take it, as he took a 3-1 lead. With both then holding serve, Sela had the chance to serve out for the set, and clinched it at the third time of asking.

The second set didn’t though follow the same pattern as Sela was broken early on, losing the second set 6-2, to set up a third and deciding one.

The third set started in more encouraging fashion, with Sela breaking again in the third game, and then holding his own to take a 3-1 lead. It got even better for him as he broke again to go 4-1 up, though he was broken back in the next game, saving two break points, but not the third as Becker pulled a game back to make it 4-2.

Both then held their serve, though Sela had to hold off a break point to go 5-3 up, before the Israeli was then left to serve for the match. And in what proved to be a tense affair, Sela saved five break points, before securing the match on his third match point, taking the set 6-4.

He will next face Italian Andreas Seppi in the quarter-finals.