Defending champion Xavier Malisse set up a quarter-final showdown against Russian fourth seed Mikhail Youzhny after overcoming Austrian Jurgen Melzer in the second round at the Chennai Open on Wednesday.
Malisse fired eight aces as he beat Austria's Melzer 7-6 (3), 6-2 at the SDAT Nungambakkam stadium. Youzhny had earlier rallied to a 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 victory over Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Malisse leads Youzhny 3-1 in the head-to-head; he beat the Russian 7-5, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in their last meeting at the 2006 Australian Open.
Second seed Marcos Baghdatis' exit in the first round (lost 3-6, 4-6 to Robin Haase) has opened up the bottom half of the draw and the winner of the Youzhny vs Malisse match could fancy their chances of making it to Sunday's final.
Malisse, who could not capitalize on any of the eight break points in the first set, took an early lead in the second.
He saved four game points, including a triple, in the third game to register the first break of the match. The Belgian went a double break up when he won the seventh game and a chance to serve out the match.
Crowd favourite Carlos Moya put out tenacious qualifier Alexandre Kudryavtsev 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2 in the second round.
The Spaniard will meet Frenchman Florent Serra in the last eight. Serra clinched a 2 hour-25 minute battle against lanky Belgian Kristof Vliegen with a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (6) victory.
In the doubles, American Rajeev Ram continued his good run in the tournament, as he and partner Harel Levy of Israel, saved a match point to overcome Czech Tomas Cibulec and Croatian Lovro Zovko 6-3, 4-6, 12-10.
Ram-Levy, seeded fourth, will meet US-Russian pair of Igor Kunitsyn and Jim Thomas in the quarterfinal.
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