Ljubicic into Lyon quarters

THIRD-SEEDED Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia reached the quarterfinals of the Lyon Grand Prix in Lyon, France, yesterday by beating Nicolas Kiefer of Germany 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Ljubicic, the 2001 Lyon champion, served 27 aces and broke his opponent twice to maintain his perfect 4-0 record against Kiefer.

Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France was aiming for a quarterfinal berth later when the Frenchman takes on Olivier Rochus of Belgium. Gilles Simon faces fellow French David Guez.

Simon kept alive his hopes of qualifying for the ATP World Tour Final by beating Italian Simone Bolelli 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) on Wednesday.

In Vienna, Austria, Marin Cilic also retained his slim chance of reaching next month's Tour Final in London by beating Daniel Brands of Germany 7-6 (7), 6-4 in the second round of the BA Tennis Trophy yesterday.

The top-seeded Croat, who is looking for his third title of the season, was broken when serving for the first set at 5-4 and then saved a set point in the tiebreaker.

Cilic, ranked 13th, sealed the win on his third match point. He will play either 2004 champion Feliciano Lopez of Spain or Austria's Daniel Koellerer in the quarterfinals.

In St Petersburg, Russia, Ukraine qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky beat Russian wildcard Andrey Kuznetsov 6-1, 6-4 yesterday in the second round of the St Petersburg Open.

Stakhovsky broke Kuznetsov, the Wimbledon junior champion, three times to reach the quarterfinals of a tournament for the second straight week. He lost to eventual champion Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in the final eight of the Kremlin Cup last week.

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