Nalbandian and Seppi Reach Belgrade Quarters

By Erik Gudris

Photo Credit: Reuters

(May 2, 2012) Seeded players continued to face little resistance at this week's Serbia Open as David Nalbandian and Andreas Seppi both saw action today in Belgrade.

No. 2 seed Seppi met Croatia's Ivan Dodig and despite the Italian Seppi being broken twice in the match, he saved five of seven break points against him en route to a 6-4, 6-2 win. With the win, Seppi reached his fourth ATP quarterfinal of the year.

Seppi will now face No. 8 seed Gilles Muller who was forced to a tiebreak in the second set by Argentinian qualifier Eduardo Schwank before winning 6-3, 7-6.

No.4 seed Nalbandian faced Slovenian qualifier Aljaz Bedene and despite Nalbandian being broken in the second set, Nalbandian didn't let that prevent him from earning a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 win. Nalbandian will face Joao Souza in the quarterfinals after Souza defeated the last remaining Serbian in the draw, Dusan Lajovic, 4-2 in the first set after Lajovic retired due to an ankle injury.

Nalbandian is now in his fourth ATP quarterfinal of the year having earned the same result in Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Indian Wells.