By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Last year's finalists, -- reigning champion Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon -- were among Thursday's second- round winners at the Thailand Open tennis event.
The second-seeded U.S. Open semifinalist Gasquet grounded Slovak Lukas Lacko 6-3, 6-2, while the fourth-seeded Simon, fresh off his title in Metz in his native France last week, topped Aussie Bernard Tomic 6-4, 7-5 on the indoor hardcourts at Impact Arena. Simon's latest victory marked the 300th match win of his ATP career.
The world No. 9 Gasquet defeated the 2009 Bangkok titlist and former top-10 star Simon in last year's all-French finale.
In other second-round action on Day 4, third-seeded Canadian slugger Milos Raonic fired 21 aces in outlasting Aussie Marinko Matosevic 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-4, fifth-seeded Russian veteran Mikhail Youzhny doused Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-3, and Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu upended eighth-seeded Czech Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-2.
Friday's quarterfinals will pit top-seeded world No. 6 and former Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych against Lu; Gasquet versus Youzhny; Raonic against Spanish left-hander Feliciano Lopez; and Simon versus Dutchman Igor Sijsling.
The 2013 Bangkok titlist will earn $102,450.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/gasquet-simon-ease-into-bangkok-quarters