Vienna, Austria (SportsNetwork.com) - Fifth-seeded Czech veteran Radek Stepanek landed in the quarterfinals, while oft-injured sixth-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils was sent packing Wednesday at the Erste Bank Open tennis tournament.
The 34-year-old Stepanek outlasted Slovak Lukas Lacko 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) in a second-round affair, while Czech lucky loser Jaroslav Pospisil ousted the flamboyant Frenchman Monfils 7-6 (7-0), 7-5 in an opening-round bout on the indoor courts at Wiener Stadthalle. Monfils was the Vienna runner- up in 2008.
Another second-round result saw eighth-seeded Czech Lukas Rosol beat Bahamian qualifier Mirza Basic 6-3, 7-5, while another first-round match resulted in Pole Lukasz Kubot grounding German Florian Mayer 7-6 (7-1), 6-4.
This week's top-four seeds will all take to the courts for second-rounders on Thursday, including 2011 Vienna champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and 2001 titlist Tommy Haas.
The winner of this $675,000 event will earn $122,000.
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