Doha, Qatar – World No. 10 Richard Gasquet and fellow French star Gael Monfils secured quarterfinal berths at the season-opening Qatar Open, a $1.05 million Australian Open tune-up.
The second-seeded Gasquet outlasted game Slovenian Grega Zemlja 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) in 2 hours, 44 minutes, while Monfils knocked out third-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in just over two hours on the hardcourts at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex. Zemlja swatted 17 aces in a losing effort against Gasquet. Monfils improved to 8-1 lifetime versus Kohlschreiber.
The two-time Doha finalist Monfils was last year's Qatar Open runner-up to compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Up next for Gasquet will be Slovak Lukas Lacko, while Monfils will face German qualifier Daniel Brands in the round of eight on Thursday.
In other second-round action involving seeds, former top-five Russian Nikolay Davydenko handled fellow countryman Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 6-3 and Lacko upended sixth-seeded Serb Viktor Troicki 6-3, 7-5. Davydenko titled here in 2010 and was the 2011 runner-up.
Also on Day 3, Brands came back to beat Egyptian wild card Mohamed Safwat 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, Italian Simone Bolelli overcame Pole Lukasz Kubot 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, and Italian Paolo Lorenzi topped Czech Lukas Rosol 6-0, 6-4.
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