Fish ousted in Clay Court Championship

• Tweet

HOUSTON, April 12 (UPI) -- Michael Russell surprised top-seeded Mardy Fish Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship.

Russell posted a 6-3, 6-1 victory, his first in three career meetings with Fish. Their other two confrontations had come in 2010, one of those matches being played on grass and the other on clay.

Second-seeded John Isner also advanced, but had a struggle on his hands before defeating Horacio Zeballos 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-2. Isner will take on Ryan Sweeting in the quarterfinals after Sweeting downed Bobby Reynolds 6-3, 6-2.

In other second-round matchups Thursday, Ryan Harrison defeated Igor Kunitsyn 6-2, 6-4, Juan Monaco was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Tatsuma Ito and Kevin Anderson knocked off Sam Querrey 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 7-6 (7-2).

Harrison will face Russell in the quarterfinals, Monaco will play Anderson and Carlos Berlocq will face Feliciano Lopez in a matchup that was determined Wednesday.