Robredo holds off Groth, Seppi beats Bolelli

TommyRobredo

Spanish fourth seed Robredo appeared set for a humbling defeat by Groth at the hard-court tournament after the Australian took the first set comfortably, however, the world number 22 recovered well to progress.

Groth needed just 22 minutes to win the opener, yet he could not maintain the momentum as his 32-year-old counterpart won 15 points on the world number 95's poor second serve to emerge victorious and set up a last-eight clash with Italian Andreas Seppi.

Seppi eased to relatively comfortable triumph over compatriot and friend Simone Bolelli, the eighth seed winning 6-4 6-3.

"It's never easy to play against a good friend," Seppi said.

"We spent the past couple of weeks together at [the] Davis Cup and practicing, so it was a tough match, especially mentally.

"But I think I handled it well. I played a solid game and was serving well in the important moments. I'm happy about the win."

While Robredo was severely tested, there were no such difficulties for third seed Richard Gasquet, who cruised to a 6-3 6-2 win over Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.

In an excellent display of defence, Frenchman Gasquet saved all of the six break points he faced and won 78 per cent of points on his first serve to keep his hopes of an 11th ATP singles title alive.

Gasquet will now take on Juan Monaco in the ATP 250 event after the Argentinian caused the only surprise of the day by overcoming seventh seed Vasek Pospisil 7-5 2-6 6-3.

Monaco came through in a contest that lasted one hour and 59 minutes to seal his 300th tour-level win, becoming the 20th active player to reach that milestone.

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