Rafael Nadal held off fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 7-5 (5), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (9) to reach the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open Thursday. Verdasco unleashed 48 winners to Nadal's 29. But Verdasco committed 41 unforced errors to Nadal's 31 in the match, which lasted 3 hours, 37 minutes. Nadal will face Mardy Fish in the quarter-finals after the American beat France's Richard Gasquet 7-5, 7-5. Britain's Andy Murray had an easier route into the last eight with a relatively comfortable 6-2, 7-5 win over American qualifier Alex Bogomolov. Czech Tomas Berdych easily dealt with Spain's Nicolas Almagro 6-2, 6-2. Serena Williams' premature departure here could pay big dividends for Sam Stosur. Stosur, capitalizing on an unexpected day of rest, returned to the court and ousted fifth-seeded Li Na of China 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the US Open tuneup. Stosur became the first woman to reach the quarterfinals. Slovkia's Daniela Hantuchova followed when she beat eighth-seeded Marion Bartoli 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic barely broke a sweat Wednesday as he routed American Ryan Harrison 6-2, 6-3 to breeze into the third round. In other matches involving top seeded men Wednesday, Murray defeated Argentina's David Nalbandian, 6-4, 6-1 and Nadal beat qualifier Julien Benneteau 6-4, 7-5 despite having to play with two fingers on his right hand in bandages after burning them on a hot plate. Djokovic needed just 76 minutes to dispatch Harrison, hitting three aces and winning 73 percent of his first serves. Murray beat Nalbandian for the third consecutive time after losing the first two career matches against the Argentinian. Bogomolov beat Jo-Winfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-4. Serbian Ana Ivanovic's disappointing season continued with a 6-3, 7-6 loss to Russia's Nadia Petrova, but another Serbian former number one, Jelena Jankovic enjoyed a 4-6 ,6-3, 6-1 win over China's Zheng Jie. Germany's Andrea Petkovic advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 win against Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson.
