Robin Soderling reached the quarterfinals in his first clay-court tournament of the season at the Barcelona Open when he rolled past Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-2 Thursday. Soderling, the surprise French Open finalist last year, evened his career record against Lopez at 4-4. Next up for the Swede, the second and highest seed after Rafael Nadal's withdrawal, will be Argentine qualifier Eduardo Schwank, whom Soderling beat in the Davis Cup last month. Schwank defeated Ivan Navarro of Spain 6-3, 7-6 (7). Third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came from behind to beat Nicolas Almagro of Spain 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 for the third time this year. Tsonga, making his debut in Barcelona, also beat 15th-seeded Almagro at the Australian Open and last week in Monte Carlo. Fifth-seeded Fernando Verdasco had to overhaul a one-set deficit and win a second-set tiebreak en route to beating Jurgen Melzer of Austria 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3, and eighth-seeded David Ferrer, the runner-up to Nadal for the last two years, won all nine games when qualifier Simone Bolelli of Italy retired with a right wrist injury. Verdasco and Ferrer were the only Spaniards to win Thursday from eight starters in the third round. Among the departed was former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2001 Barcelona winner, who lost his first meeting with Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (4). De Bakker set up a quarterfinal with Tsonga. The other winners included Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. Gulbis saw off Spanish qualifier Albert Ramos 6-1 6-3. Bellucci next meets Ferrer, and Gulbis will play Verdasco. Venus bows out of Fed Cup Venus Williams will not compete for the United States in this weekend's Fed Cup semifinal tie against Russia because of nagging leg injuries similar to those of sister Serena. “I waited until this moment in hopes that I would have an opportunity to play, but I am being advised by my medical support team that I will need more time to recover,” Venus said in a statement Wednesday. The elder Williams sister wore wrappings on both legs in a finals loss to Kim Clijsters earlier this month at a hardcourt event in Miami. Fernandez will send Melanie Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Liezel Huber against the Russians and fill the spot she was holding open for Venus with either Sloane Stephens or Christina McHale.
