Tomas Carbonell rallied past Thomas Enqvist, the top seed and defending champion, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Indoor Championship.
The Spaniard, ranked No. 68 in the world, couldn't handle the Swede's serve early, falling behind 5-1 after just 17 minutes and dropping the first set on a double fault.Carbonell trailed 5-4 in the second-set tiebreak, but took the next three points and evened the match when Enqvist missed a backhand return.
"I started off slow, then I just said to myself, `Come on, you've got nothing to lose, so wake up,"' Carbonell said. "One set is nothing. When I won the tiebreak, I started to believe in myself."
Carbonell went up a break in the second game of the third set. Enqvist, ranked ninth in the world, survived two match points in the 10th game, winning it with three straight aces. But in the next game, Enqvist backhanded a service return into the net on match point.
"It's a pretty tough loss," said Enqvist, who had 13 aces, but seven double faults. "I felt confident. I did not miss the shots by much, but I just didn't have it today."
This is the third career victory over a top 10 opponent for Carbonell, who has just one career title in 10 years. The clay court specialist has played well indoors this year, reaching the semifinals in Marseilles, France, two weeks ago.
In Friday's quarterfinals, Carbonell will face No. 7 Todd Woodbridge.
The two advanced to the quarters along with No. 2 seed Jim Courier and No. 8 Byron Black. Courier scored a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory over Spain's Carlos Costa. Costa survived three set points in the first set tiebreak before Courier walloped an overhead to win it.
Woodbridge beat Vincent Spadea 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (1-7), 6-4. In the third set - the first set Woodbridge had this week that did not go to a tiebreak - Spadea, ranked No. 98 in the world, lost his serve in the sixth game but broke back in the ninth.