Second seed Gael Monfils of France and third seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany advanced to the quarter-finals of the Moselle Open on Thursday.
Monfils overcame a slow start before beating Michal Przysiezny of Poland 7-5, 6-1 and next faces seventh seed Jerzy Janowicz of Poland after he comfortably beat veteran Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-4, 6-4.
The big-serving Janowicz saved all three break-points he faced and hit nine aces.
Przysiezny, the world No. 136, broke Monfils’ opening service game and held for 2-0, but Monfils broke straight back.
Monfils, who had two match points before losing to 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the US Open quarter-finals, is looking for his second title of the season after his victory on the hard courts in Montpellier, France, in February.
Kohlschreiber had 12 aces in a 6-3, 7-5 win over Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi and next plays Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, who did not face a single break point in a 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4 win against No. 5 Jeremy Chardy of France.
No. 6 Joao Sousa of Portugal and No. 8 David Goffin of Belgium also reached the last eight.
Sousa struggled, saving 14 of 16 break-point chances, as he labored to a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/3) win over Dutchman Igor Sijsling. He next plays Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.
Goffin eased past Germany’s Tobias Kamke 6-1, 6-3 to set up a quarter-final against top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.
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