Sijsling, Lopez into Bangkok quarters

BANGKOK: Spain's sixth seed Feliciano Lopez and Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands booked the first of the quarter-final spots at the Thailand Open on Wednesday.

While Lopez went through without problems over Japan's Go Soeda, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, there was plenty of hard work for Sijsling, who beat compatriot Robin Haase for the second time this season as he posted a 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) second-round win which took two-and-a-quarter hours.

Top seed Tomas Berdych was opening his campaign in the second round later in the day against Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut. Berdych last competed in Bangkok in 2008, losing a semi-final to Novak Djokovic.

In concluding first-round play at the hard courts of the Impact Arena, Russian fifth seed Mikhail Youzhny struck six aces and saved all three break points in a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Italian Paolo Lorenzi.

Making his tournament debut, Youzhny will next play Uzbek Denis Istomin, winner over South Korea's Jeong Suk-Young 6-3, 6-0.

Youzhny, 31, is one of 14 over-30 winners on the ATP this season. He now stands 33-20 in 2013. Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan moved into the second round after defeating another Russian, Evgeny Donskoy, 6-3, 6-2. (AFP)