MUNICH, Germany, May 1 (UPI) -- Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador avenged a previous claycourt loss to Fernando Meligeni of Brazil on Wednesday and advanced to the quarterfinals of the $381,000 BMW Open.
Lapentti, the seventh seed, reached his third quarterfinal of the year with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Meligeni, who beat him in the second round of the 2001 French Open.
Lapentti also was a finalist at the Vina del Mar claycourt event in February and reached the last eight at the Miami hardcourt championships in March.
In the quarterfinals, Lapentti will face Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek, who knocked off Germany's Nicolas Kiefer, 6-2, 6-2.
Kiefer had eliminated top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia in the opening round.
Rainer Schuettler of Germany and Francisco Clavet of Spain also will square off in the quarterfinals. Schuettler posted a 6-3, 6-2 second-round victory over Alexander Popp, a wild-card entrant. Clavet outlasted Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina, 7-6 (7-5) 4-6, 6-3.
Second seed Tommy Haas of Germany and fourth seed Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic are among the players competing for the remaining berths into the quarterfinals Thursday.
