Lopez posts welcome win for Spain in Gstaad

GSTAAD, Switzerland: Feliciano Lopez saved face for Spain on Wednesday as he earned a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Russian Andrey Kuznetsov to put an Iberian into the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open.

The victory from fifth seed Lopez helped to ease the pain for a country which has won two of the last three titles here (through Nicolas Almagro and Marcel Granollers) after the second-round eliminations earlier of a pair of compatriots.

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez was crushed 6-1, 6-2 as Argentine Juan Monaco won his opening career match at the elite alpine venue located at 800 metres above sea level in a quiet pedestrianised village.

Monaco, champion two months ago in the dirt in Dusseldorf, won his 18th match of the season on clay, taking 64 minutes with four breaks of serve.

There was more Spanish disappointment for Pablo Andujar, beaten in just over two hours 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 by Russian sixth seed Mikhail Youzhny, who welcomed nine double-faults from his rattled opponent and who broke on five of 16 chances.

Lopez wasted no time in advancing, winning the opening set with a break of serve against Kuznetsov and then taking a 5-3 lead on his second break of the sunny afternoon before booking into the last eight after little more than an hour on the fast clay.

Swiss second seed Stanislas Wawrinka was due to open after a bye awarded to the top four seeds, when he faced another Spaniard in Daniel Gimeno-Traver, whom he beat on clay in Argentina four months ago. (AFP)