January 9, 2013

Jesse Levine is off to a good start playing as a Canadian on the ATP.

The Ottawa-born Levine, who played professionally under the U.S. flag, continued his solid play with a 7-5, 6-4 triumph over American Brian Baker at the Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand.

The 25-year-old left-hander who has trained with Roger Federer will face American Sam Querrey in Thursday's quarterfinals at the Australian Open tune-up event.

Also, three-time tournament titlist David Ferrer earned a hard-fought 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu.

The top-seeded Ferrer needed just under two hours to sneak past Lu on the hardcourts at ASB Tennis Centre. The gritty Spaniard will meet Slovak Lukas Lacko.