Seven of the eight quarter-finalists in the line-up of the ATP Brisbane International tennis tournament were decided on Tuesday and Wednesday.
All the seeded players in the second round of this men’s competition won their matches to make it to the last-eight stage.
Second seeded Gilles Simon of France won his second round match against wild-card James Duckworth in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5 to take up his appointed place in the quarter-finals. He will take on Colombian Santiago Giraldo in the quarter-finals.
Giraldo, who had beaten John Millman in the first round, overcame German Philipp Petzschner in his second round match. The Colombian won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.
Alexandr Dolgopolov, the third seeded player from Ukraine, scraped through to the quarter-finals with a 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 win over qualifier Igor Andreev. Andreev, who had breezed past Alejandro Falla in the opening match, fought hard but came out second-best.
Dolgopolov will now take on sixth seeded Czech player Radek Stepanek. Stepanek proved to be too strong for Finnish player Jarkko Nieminen, winning in straight sets, 7-6, 6-2.
Sixth seeded Bernard Tomic kept the Australian flag flying when he defeated qualifier Tatsuma Ito in an easy, straight-set win. Tomic won 6-1, 6-2 and will now play Denis Istomin. Istomin did not have to lift his racquet as Tommy Haas conceded the game because of an injury.
Marcos Baghdatis also made it to the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Japanese Kei Nishkori. He takes on the winner of the match between Andy Murray, seeded one and Gilles Muller.
The last second-round match between Murray and Muller will be played later today.
The ATP Brisbane International quarter-final matches will be played on January 5.
