Top-seeded Tomas Berdych eased into the quarterfinals of the Chennai Open on Wednesday with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Ivan Dodig of Croatia.
The sixth-ranked Berdych raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set before Dodig got his only break of the match in the next game. But Berdych responded by breaking back immediately with a forehand winner down the line. He broke again in the fifth game of the second set and clinched the victory in 87 minutes.
''No match is easy. It might look easy on the scoreline, but you need to work for it,'' Berdych said. ''In the fourth game (of the first set), I missed two or three chances and made a double fault. I need to avoid them the next time.''
The 2010 Wimbledon runner-up will next play Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia, who beat American Robert Kendrick 6-2, 6-2.
Also Wednesday, fourth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet lost his second-round match 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) to Bjorn Phau of Germany. Gasquet looked headed for an easy victory when he led 5-2 in the second set and served for the match, but the 102nd-ranked Phau won the next three games before leveling the match. In the decider, Phau broke Gasquet in the third game and was serving for the match at 5-4 when the Frenchman broke back to eventually force the tiebreaker.
In the late game, Xavier Malisse of Belgium beat Stephane Robert of France 6-2, 6-2.
