Berdych, Verdasco reach Beijing QFs

Published November 20, 2014

World No. 10 Czech slugger Tomas Berdych and hander Fernando Verdasco were among Wednesday's second-round winners at the $2.1 million China Open tennis event.

Berdych handled German qualifier Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-0 in a brisk 63 minutes to reach a quarterfinal for the 14th time this year. The third- seeded Czech improved to 6-1 lifetime against Kohlschreiber.

The 26-year-old Berdych will next face the world No. 23 Verdasco after the Spaniard rallied to beat Italian qualifier Flavio Cipolla 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 on the hardcourts at the National Tennis Centre.

Other second-round action saw Croat Ivan Ljubicic outlast recent Bucharest titlist Florian Mayer of Germany 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 and Russian Mikhail Youzhny overcome Spanish southpaw Feliciano Lopez 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-5.

Ljubicic and Youzhny will square off Friday in the round of eight.

On Thursday, top-seeded French star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will face little-known Chinese wild card Ze Zhang.

The 2011 Beijing titlist will claim $505,000.

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