Malisse keeps winning at Chennai

CHENNAI, India, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Xavier Malisse, unseeded despite being the defending champion, collected yet another match win in second-round play Wednesday at the Chennai Open in India.

Malisse ran his Chennai winning streak to seven matches with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 upset of sixth-seeded Jurgen Melzer. He advanced into the tournament quarterfinals and a match with No. 4-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, who moved out of the second round with a rocky 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 win over Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Third-seeded Carlos Moya -- who won at Chennai in 2004 and 2005 and was the runner-up in 2006 -- also won Wednesday, getting by Alexandre Kudryavtsev 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2. Moya's quarterfinal foe will be Florent Serra, who advanced with a tight 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) win over Kristof Vliegen.

The second round wraps up Thursday with top-seeded and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal going against Rajeev Ram in the highlighted match.