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French charge into quarters at the Swiss Open

Holder Richard Gasquet completed a French sweep into the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open on Thursday as compatriots Paul-Henri Mathieu and Gael Monfils advanced to a first-time showdown.

The third-seeded Gasquet, a Wimbledon semi-finalist against Roger Federer, demolished Belgian Kristof Vliegen 6-3, 6-4, recovering from a lost break in the second set as warm, dry weather in the Alps replaced three days of rain and cold.

Fifth seed Mathieu defeated Feliciano Lopez, who lost last year's final to Gasquet, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).

Monfils was ruthless as he swept aside Czech qualifier Jiri Vanek 6-1, 6-4 in 51 minutes - seven minutes quicker than Gasquet's effort - on the back of 15 aces while never facing a break point from the outclassed No. 120.

Mathieu and Monfils have never played each other on the ATP. Gasquet will next take on 2004 finalist Igor Andreev, a 6-3, 7-6 winner against Italy's Potito Starace.

"I wanted to beat him since I lost to him at Roland Garros this year," Gasquet said of Vliegen.

"I'm playing with confidence from Wimbledon. Even if I didn't play my best tennis, I still got the win," he said.

The seed lost a break of serve in the eighth game of the second set, but got it back in the ninth before serving out the win.

"I was disappointed, I don't know what happened. I had been winning easily until then," he said.

Mathieu had to save four break points in the final set as well as recover from 0-40 in the fifth game against Lopez.

"That game was very important for me," the French winner said. "I served my way out of it. I'm tired from playing a lot of matches during the grass season."

The unseeded Lopez was fresh from a pair of grass wins at Wimbledon after a weeks-long run of poor form.

Mathieu fired nine aces to 11 by the Spaniard on the fast clay at an altitude of 800m. He also saved eight of the 10 break points he faced in a contest which stretched past the two-hour mark.

Mathieu stands on his best-ever ranking of 28th just three months after winning his third career title and first in five years on clay at Casablanca.

He improved to 4-3 at Gstaad.

"In the tiebreaker, it can go either way," said the winner, who will have only one week of holiday before heading to North America for the summer hardcourt season.
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