Soderling needs two tiebreakers to advance

MARSEILLE, France, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- No. 1-seed Robin Soderling was pushed to a pair of tiebreakers Thursday before advancing to the quarterfinals of the Open 13 tennis tournament in France.

Soderling defeated Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-5), taking just one more point than his opponent (79-78) in the match. Soderling was able to eke out the win in the second tiebreaker by winning the last four points.

Second-seeded Tomas Berdych had a much easier time getting out of the second round, topping Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 6-4 without facing a break point. Berdych lost only 13 points in 10 service games.

No. 3-seeded Mikhail Youzhny had a pair of breaks in each of the second and third sets in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Gilles Simon. Youzhny dropped just two points on serve in the third set.

Dmitry Tursunov upset fifth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in a match that had just one break-point opportunity, which Tursunov won.

Also Thursday eighth-seeded Michael Llodra topped Tobias Kamke 6-3, 6-4 and Marin Cilic advanced over Philipp Petzschner 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.

Soderling goes against Llodra in Friday's quarterfinals, with the winner moving into a match against the survivor of a match between fourth-seeded Jurgen Melzer and Tursunov. Also, Youzhny meets No. 6 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Berdych plays Cilic.