Top-seeded Fernando Verdasco saved a match point before beating Daniel Koellerer 6-7 (1), 6-2, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals at the Swedish Open on Thursday.
Fourth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria, No. 5 Nicolas Almagro of Spain and unseeded Andreas Vinciguerra of Sweden and Juan Monaco of Argentina also reached the last eight in the 62nd edition of the clay-court tournament.
Verdasco was to play Monaco in yesterday’s quarter-finals. Monaco knocked off Victor Crivoi of Romania 6-0, 7-6 (1).
Melzer beat Daniel-Gimeno Traver of Spain 6-2, 6-2 to line up a quarter-final with Vinciguerra, who ousted qualifier Guillermo Canas of Argentina 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4. Almagro rallied past Potito Starace of Italy 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 to play Robin Soderling of Sweden in the last eight.
Defending champion Tommy Robredo of Spain was to face Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia in the last quarter-final.
■MERCEDES CUP
AP, STUTTGART, GERMANY
Mischa Zverev of Germany upset top-seeded Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the Mercedes Cup.
Zverev also beat Simon at the Rome Masters in May and now leads the Frenchman 2-0.
In another upset, qualifier Lukasz Kubot of Poland beat fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-4.
Kubot will next face Nicolas Kiefer of Germany, who beat Simon Greul 6-3, 6-4 to reach his first quarter-final of the year.
Second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko eased into the quarter-finals by beating Michael Berrer of Germany 6-3, 6-3.
Davydenko’s quarter-final opponent will be Fabio Fognini of Italy, who advanced when Paul-Henri Mathieu of France retired because of dizzy spells while trailing 6-4, 4-1.
■PRAGUE OPEN
AP, PRAGUE
Third-seeded Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic beat Monica Niculescu of Romania 7-5, 6-4 on Thursday to advance to the quarter-finals of the Prague Open.
Benesova will next face Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan, who upset eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-2. The 15-year-old Diyas, who is ranked No. 295, reached her first quarter-final at a WTA Tour event.
Also, Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine defeated Kristina Barrois of Germany 7-5, 7-5, and will next play top-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy.
■PALERMO OPEN
AP, PALERMO, ITALY
Former champions Patty Schnyder and Sara Errani advanced to the Palermo Open quarter-finals with straight-sets wins on Thursday.
Second-seeded Schnyder of Switzerland, the champ on her last appearance in 1998, beat Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain 6-2, 6-2 in a second-round match. Defending champ Errani pleased the home crowd by getting past Patricia Mayr of Austria 7-6 (6), 6-1.
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