Top-seeded Robin Soderling moved into the quarterfinals of the Open 13 tennis tournament with a 7-6 (8), 7-6 (5) victory over wild-card entry Nicolas Mahut of France.
Soderling will meet Michael Llodra in the quarters. The eighth-seeded Llodra, also the defending champion, defeated Tobias Kamke of Germany 6-3, 6-4 earlier Thursday.
Soderling, who won in Rotterdam last week, struggled to find a rhythm and had to save two break points in the first set. Llodra had 12 aces and saved a break point in each set before winning his match.
Also, second-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 6-3, 6-4 and will face Marin Cilic of Craotia on Friday.
Third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny rallied to beat Gilles Simon 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a match that featured eight service breaks and lasted a little under two hours. He next faces another Frenchman, No. 6-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the quarters.
Earlier, Dmitry Tursunov of Russia upset fifth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 7-6 (4), 6-3.
Ljubicic fired 15 aces but could not force a break point against Tursunov, who earned the only break of the match in the second set. Tursunov faces No. 4 Jurgen Melzer of Austria in the quarterfinals.
Cilic advanced after beating Philipp Petzschner of Germany 7-6 (3), 6-3.
