Moscow, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - Richard Gasquet and defending champion Andreas Seppi were among the quarterfinal winners Friday at the Kremlin Cup.
The top-seeded Gasquet made short work of Russian wild card Teymuraz Gabashvili, 6-3, 6-2, while the second-seeded Seppi was ahead 5-2 in the first set when Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin retired with a neck strain.
Next up for Gasquet will be big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who ended the run of Russian teenage wild card Karen Khachanov with a 6-4, 6-0 drubbing. Karlovic lost just five points on serves and ripped off 11 aces in the 52- minute match.
Gasquet needed an extra 30 minutes to finish off Gabashvili, breaking serve three times and saving all five break-points against his own serve. The Frenchman was a surprising first-round loser last week in Shanghai after consecutive semifinal appearances at the U.S. Open, Thailand Open and China Open. He won twice earlier this year -- in Doha to start the season and again in February in Montpellier.
Seppi will next square off against Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin, who beat fellow qualifier and countrymate Andrey Golubev, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4). Seppi topped Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci in last year's final and is trying to reach a title match for the first time in 2013. He is 0-4 in semifinals this year.
The 2013 Moscow titlist will collect $134,800.
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