Defending champion Gael Monfils finished off Michael Russell of the US with his 17th ace in winning 6-3, 6-3 to reach the Open Sud de France quarter-finals on Thursday.
Russell double-faulted to drop serve at 3-3 and lost the opening set. Monfils capitalized on a backhand error from Russell to break for a 3-1 lead in the second set.
Monfils next plays eighth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen, who dismissed French wild-card Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (7/4), 6-1.
The top-seeded Tomas Berdych cruised past French qualifier Florent Serra 6-0, 6-2 in another second-round match.
Berdych, recovered from his grueling quarter-final loss to Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open, broke Serra five times to set up a match against Nicolas Mahut of France, who beat sixth-seeded Florian Mayer 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
Mahut jumped out to 4-1 in the tiebreaker and took the first set when Mayer double-faulted. He broke the German twice in the final set to clinch victory.
ZAGREB INDOORS
AP, ZAGREB, CROATIA
Lukas Lacko of Slovakia ousted second seed Alex Bogomolov Jr of Russia 6-0, 6-7 (7/1), 6-1 to advance to the Zagreb Indoors quarter-finals on Thursday.
Bogomolov, a quarter-finalist last year, rallied after dropping the first set, but lost five games in only 14 minutes in the decider to bow out.
Third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia defeated Grega Zemlja of Slovenia 6-1, 6-3 to reach his third quarter-final in Zagreb.
Defending champion Ivan Dodig beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. The fourth-seeded Dodig will face No. 6 Marcos Baghdatis, the 2007 champion, who downed Lukasz Kubot of Poland 6-4, 6-2.
Another Croat, eighth-seeded Ivo Karlovic, won his second-rounder by hitting a dozen aces past Dudi Sela in beating the Israeli 6-3, 6-2.
VINA DEL MAR VTR OPEN
AP, VINA DEL MAR, CHILE
Argentine qualifier Federico Delbonis reached his second career ATP quarter-finals when he upset third-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 6-2, 7-5 in the VTR Open on Thursday.
Delbonis’ opponent is scheduled to be Carlos Berlocq, who overwhelmed fellow Argentine Diego Junqueira 6-1, 6-0.
Second-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina defeated countryman Horacio Zeballos 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), setting up a quarter-final against Brazilian Joao Souza, who upset Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 7-6 (8/6).
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