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.
The pressure was already on Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso before their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League raised further questions about his future. Arsenal remain perfect in this season’s competition and three points clear at the top of the standings after a 3-0 win against Club Brugge, while defending champions Paris Saint-Germain were held 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao. The clash between Madrid and City was the standout game of the round amid reports this week that Alonso had lost control of the locker room. Speculation over his position is likely to intensify after the latest
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