ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia pulled a tough second-round victory Wednesday to advance into the quarterfinals of the St. Petersburg Open.
Ivanisevic, seeded fifth, defeated Felix Mantilla of Spain, 7-6 (10-8), 7-5. He has not lost a set in his two rounds played.
Next for him will be the winner of the match between Russian Marat Safin and Alberto Martin of Spain.
Safin eased by his first-round opponent David Prinosil of Germany, 6-4, 6-2. The Russian improved to 7-1 lifetime against Prinosil.
Safin, the defending champion here, reached the semifinals at the U.S. Open and claimed his first title of the year by beating Kafelnikov in the final at Tashkent.
An early upset victim in the tournament was top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, who lost in straight sets to unseeded Rainer Schuettler of Germany, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4. Ferrero lost his third successive match three days after qualifying for the elite eight-man field for the season-ending Masters Cup in Sydney in November.
Schuettler also won his previous encounter with Ferrero in the quarterfinals at the Salem Open at Hong Kong. He reached the final at that event after winning his second career title a week earlier in Shanghai.
No. 4 Tommy Haas of Germany is also vying for a spot in Sydney, but took a step back Wednesday with a loss to Russian wild card entry Andrei Medvedev, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4.
Haas, 23, came to Russia off his biggest career tournament victory at Stuttgart. He won his second title in a row after capturing the CA Tennis Trophy in Vienna two weeks ago and his third of the season.
The first round was completed when Max Mirnyi of Belarus, who fell to Haas in Sunday's final in Stuttgart, continued his strong play with a 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic. Mirnyi ousted four reigning of former Grand Slam champions last week.
Sixth seed Fabrice Santoro of France advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Hungarian qualifier Attila Savolt, while countryman Michael Llodra, a qualifier, topped Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2.
