Top seeds advance at Austrian tennis event

PORTSCHACH, Austria, May 22 (UPI) -- The top three seeds, led by Nikolay Davydenko, advanced in Thursday's quarterfinals at the Hypo Group International tennis tournament in Portschach, Austria.

Davydenko, the top seed, had to win two times because of the tournament's rain-disrupted schedule this week.

First, he beat 6-foot-9 inch American John Isner, 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, and followed with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory against sixth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy.

His semifinal opponent, fellow Russian Igor Kunitsyn ousted Slovenia's Blaz Kavcic, 6-1, 6-4, and Austrian crowd favorite Jurgen Melzer, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Elsewhere, No. 2 seed Juan Monaco of Argentina beat Czech Jiri Vanek, 6-2, 6-2, and American Robby Ginepri, 7-5, 7-6, (7-3); while Croat Ivan Ljubicic, the third seed, needed to save six match points before downing Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6, (8-6).

Six second-round matches and all four quarterfinals had to be played on Thursday after rain had forced numerous postponements.