Friday, 28 September, 2007

Lleyton Hewitt secured his place in the quarter-finals of the Kingfisher Airlines Open with a 7-6 (7/2) 6-2 victory over unseeded Boris Pashanski on Thursday.

With rain disrupting the schedule since the tournament started, the second-seeded Australian had also had to play his first-round match earlier in the day, earning a 6-3 6-3 triumph against qualifier Ti Chen.

The 26-year-old, who is seeking his 27th career singles title, will next face Rainer Schuttler after he ground out a 6-2 6-7 (4/7) 7-6 (7/1) win over Viktor Troicki.

Top seed Richard Gasquet also advanced to the quarter-finals on Thursday with a 6-0 6-1 dismantling of unseeded Italian Fabio Fognini.

His quarter-final opponent will be sixth seed Stefan Koubek, who rallied for a 4-6 6-3 7-5 victory over unseeded Bjorn Phau.

Fourth seed Jarkko Nieminen and number five seed Fabrice Santoro also won their matches on Thursday and will now face off in the quarter-finals.

Eighth-seeded Olivier Rochus also had a challenging second-round match before escaping with a 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory over unseeded Ivan Navarro.

His quarter-final opponent will be Germany's Nicolas Kiefer, a 6-3 6-3 winner against Yen-Hsun Lu.

Venus into last four
Berdych secures last-four berth
Lloyd faces up to toughest task
Tough opener for Russia
Elseneer reveals match-fixing offer
Hewitt through in Mumbai
Duo on course to clash again
Peng bows out