By Chris Oddo

(July 26 2012)—34-year-old Michael Russell took out top-seeded Frenchman Benoit Paire 7-5, 6-4 at the Farmers Classic on Thursday night to reach his second consecutive ATP quarterfinal.

Russell made 79 percent of his first serves against Paire, and converted six of seven break point opportunities to claim the victory in one hour and thirty-nine minutes.

The Houston native also won a remarkable 29 of 37 second serve points against Paire to keep the top seed frustrated all evening.
Russell will bid for his second career ATP semifinal appearance when he meets sixth-seeded Aussie Marinko Matosevic tomorrow. Matosevic got past Tobias Kamke of Germany 6-3, 1-6, 6-0.

It was a good day for the rest of the seeds in action on Thursday in Los Angeles, as fourth-seeded Nicolas Mahut reached his second quarterfinal of the season with a 7-5, 7-6(7) victory over Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, while fifth-seeded Xavier Malisse of Belgium downed Matthew Ebden of Australia 6-4, 6-3.

In the day’s only other match, qualifier Ricardis Berankis defeated Igor Andreev 6-4, 7-5 for his second win of 2012. Berankis, who missed four months in 2011 due to a stress fracture in his pelvis, had groin surgery in March after reinjuring the area in February in San Jose.

He returned to the qualifier and challenger circuit in May, but didn’t get his first victory of the season until last week in Atlanta.

Berankis will face Nicolas Mahut in quarterfinal action on Friday. Malisse will face second-seeded Sam Querrey in the night session, while Rajeev Ram will face third-seeded Leonardo Mayer tomorrow afternoon.

Kohlschreiber Reaches Kitzbuhel Semis

After seeing many of its matches rained out on Wednesday, play at the Bet-at-Home Cup in Kitzbuhel, Austria resumed with a vengeance today, as three players had to work double duty to reach the semifinal round.

Philipp Kohlschreiber completed double duty in Austria Thursday, coming back to finish off qualifier Attila Balazs before fighting his way past Lukas Rosol, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 later in the afternoon.

Kohlschreiber will face Filippo Volandri of Italy in the semifinals.

The Italian also performed double duty, defeating Albert Ramos and Rogerio Dutra Silva, each by the score of 6-4, 6-4. Dutra Silva had defeated seventh-seeded Ernests Gulbis by the same 6-4, 6-4 score earlier in the day.

Fifth-seeded Robin Haase also won a pair of matches on Thursday, defeating Philipp Oswald 4-6, 6-3, 2-6 before bouncing American Wayne Odesnik 6-2, 6-4.

Haase will play Martin Klizan of Slovakia in the semifinals.

(Photo Credit: Stephen Dunn/ Getty)