LONDON: Rafael Nadal was stretched by Czech Radek Stepanek before advancing to the quarterfinals at Queen's Club Thursday. The top-seeded French Open champion won 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 to join third-seeded Andy Roddick and second-seeded Andy Murray in the last eight. Roddick, who is bidding for his fifth title at Queen's Club, beat 15th-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa 6-4, 6-4, while Murray overcame Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-4, 7-6 (3). Nadal was never seriously threatened but Stepanek proved to be a tenacious opponent. The 32-year-old Czech saved two match points at 5-3 in the second set and won five straight games to take the match into a decider. In the final set, Nadal broke to lead 2-0 but then had to hold off three break points to hold for 3-0 before a further break all but sealed the match. Roddick also had to withstand some early pressure from Anderson. The 10th-ranked Roddick will play Fernando Verdasco, who overcame former Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian 7-5, 6-1. Two Frenchmen retired with injuries. Michael Llodra quit because of a leg problem with fifth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga leading 4-3. In another all-French matchup, sixth-seeded Gilles Simon retired with back pain when trailing Adrian Mannarino 6-7 (4), 6-4, 3-0 in a delayed second-round match. Mannarino then went on to upset 12th seed Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7). Hewitt, Monfils thru In Halle, third-seeded Gael Monfils and defending champion Lleyton Hewitt both advanced to the quarterfinals of the Gerry Weber Open Thursday with straight-set victories. The No. 8-ranked Monfils of France eased past Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-2, 6-3, while Hewitt beat Italy's Andreas Seppi 6-4, 6-4. Kohlschreiber beat seventh-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-6(5), making the Ukrainian the first seeded player to lose thus far. Germany's Florian Mayer moved into a last eight date with Monfils thanks to just one break in a 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4 victory over Yen-hsun Lu of Taiwan. Peng defeats Watson In Birmingham, China's Peng Shuai ended British hopes at the Birmingham WTA grasscourt tournament Thursday with a 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 win over teenager Heather Watson. Second seed and former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic stepped up her quest for the title as she brushed aside Canada's world No. 45 Rebecca Marino 6-3, 6-2 in 59 minutes. Next up for Ivanovic is Mirjana Lucic, whose 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) win over Andrea Hlavackova ensured her second quarterfinal appearance in two months, having previously failed to reach the last eight since 1999. Fourth seed Daniela Hantuchova beat 16th seed Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 6-4, 6-2, and will face American Alison Riske in the quarterfinals after Riske surprised French eighth seed Aravane Rezai 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2. In another upset, New Zealand's world No. 151 Marina Erakovic beat seventh seed Sara Errani 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal showdown against Peng. Magdalena Rybarikova ended the run of Russian qualifier Arina Rodionova — who had beaten top seed Kaia Kanepi in the first round — 6-7 (1-7), 6-0, 6-1. She will face Germany's Sabine Lisicki, a 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 winner over Tamira Paszek of Austria. Mattek-Sands moves into quarters In Denmark, third-seeded Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US recovered to beat Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-7 (1), 6-0, 7-6 (5) in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open Thursday. Mattek-Sands will meet German qualifier Mona Barthel in the quarterfinals, and could face top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the last four. China's Zhang Shuai and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic also needed three sets to reach the quarterfinals. Zhang beat Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, while Safarova was a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 winner over Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands.
