Cilic dominates Mathieu

GSTAAD, Switzerland - Familiar foe Marin Cilic handed France's defending champion Paul-Henri Mathieu a third straight loss in their series this season, advancing 6-3, 6-4 on

Wednesday at the Gstaad Open.
In the quarterfinals, the 43rd-ranked Cilic will face seventh-seeded Igor Andreev of Russia, who beat Florent Serra of France 7-5, 6-4.
Top-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland beat his Davis Cup teammate Stephane Bohli 7-6 (6), 5-7, 7-6 (3).
He will play Guillermo Canas of Argentina in the quarterfinals Friday. The eighth-seeded Canas advanced when Kristof Vliegen of Belgium withdrew.
Starace eliminates Safin
In Bastaad, Sweden, Potito Starace beat Wimbledon semfinalist Marat Safin 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4 Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Swedish Open.
The win was Starace's second three-set match in two days.
The Italian beat 2002 Swedish Open champion Carlos Moya after two tiebreakers in the first round.
Qualifier Bjorn Rehnquist of Sweden also advanced to the last eight at the clay-court tournament, defeating wild-card entrant Michael Ryderstedt 6-3, 7-5.
Next up for Rehnquist is last year's finalist, Fernando Verdasco, who advanced when Swedish wild card Ervin Eleskovic retired in the second set because of injury while trailing 6-0, 4-2.
Almagro retires
In Stuttgart, Michael Berrer reached the quarterfinals of his hometown Mercedes Cup when third-seeded Nicolas Almagro retired injured while trailing 7-5 on Wednesday.
Almagro, a two-time winner on tour this year, injured his right wrist.
Second-seeded Richard Gasquet broke Czech qualifier Lukas Rosol seven times in winning 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-2, while sixth-seeded Agustin Calleri came from behind in his second-round match to beat Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 5-7, 7-5, 6-1. Calleri reached his seventh quarterfinals of the year, and will play Berrer.
Gasquet will face Albert Montanes, who won an all-Spanish duel against Oscar Hernandez 7-6 (4), 6-4.
In first round matches suspended on Tuesday because of darkness, fifth-seeded Simone Bolelli of Italy rallied to defeat Mischa Zverev of Germany 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-2, and Brian Dabul of Argentina won his first ATP-level match when he beat Denis Gremelmayr of Germany 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.
Federer, Nadal, Djokovic
qualify for Masters Cup
Roger Federer, Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal and Australian Open holder Novak Djokovic are the first three players to qualify for the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai, organizers said on Wednesday.
Nadal is the leading qualifier for the eight-man event which will be held at Shanghai's Qi Zhong Stadium from Nov. 9-16.
Nadal became the first player since Sweden's Bjorn Borg in 1980 to capture the Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles in the same season.
Following the Wimbledon final, Nadal has accumulated 955 points to lead the ATP Race. Federer, who has won the season ending event four times, is second with 685 points and Serbia's Djokovic third with 649 points.
The top seven players in the ATP 2008 Race following the Paris Masters in October qualify for the circuit finale, with one spot reserved for grand slam champions finishing within the Top 20.
Dancevic ruins Dent's return
Seventh-seeded Frank Dancevic spoiled Taylor Dent's return to the ATP tour by rallying for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-1, victory in the opening round of the Hall of Fame Championships on Tuesday.
In other first-round play, fifth-seeded John Isner beat Jesse Levine 6-3, 6-1 in an all-American clash; eighth-seeded Kevin Anderson, South Africa's top-ranked player, beat Gilles Muller, the top-rated player from Luxembourg, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3; Pakistan's top player, Aisamul Haq Qureshi defeated Germany's Benjamin Becker 7-5, 7-6 (5); and Prakash Amritraj of India edged Joseph Sirianni of Australia, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6