Buenos Aires: Swiss second seed Stanislas Wawrinka was pushed again to three sets before he progressed to the quarter-finals of the Buenos Aires Open on Wednesday.
The world number 15, stretched by Argentine Carlos Berlocq in the first round on Tuesday, beat Romanian veteran Victor Hanescu 6-7, 6-1, 7-6 in the second round of the claycourt tournament.
Wawrinka told a courtside television reporter he did not mind meeting another Argentine in the quarter-finals, former champion Juan Monaco or Eduardo Schwank who were playing last.
Gaining in confidence on a surface he is not comfortable with, the Swiss jokingly allowed himself to look further ahead saying in broken Spanish: "I don't mind having the crowd against me. The atmosphere will be good on Sunday."
Argentine eighth seed Juan Ignacio Chela and Spanish fourth seed Albert Montanes will meet in another quarter-final.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, February 17, 2011, 10:06