HALLE, Germany, June 14 (UPI) -- Florian Mayer ousted second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko Thursday in second-round play at the $900,000 Gerry Weber Open grass-court tournament in Germany.
Mayer, a crowd favorite in this week's tournament, had little trouble in running past the Davydenko, the world's No.3-ranked player, 6-4, 6-4. The victory earned Mayer a quarterfinal berth against No. 8-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, who fought off Robin Soderling 6-7 (9-11), 6-4, 6-3, in his second-round match.
Also Thursday, Jarkko Nieminen defeated Andrei Pavel 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-1; and Marc Gicquel beat Benjamin Becker 6-2, 7-6 (7-5). Nieminen and Gicquel are paired in Friday's quarterfinals.
The other quarterfinals Friday, which were decided in play Wednesday, pit No. 3-seeded James Blake against Philipp Kohlschreiber and No. 4-seeded Tomas Berdych versus sixth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny.
