Almagro gains spot in Hamburg quarterfinal

HAMBURG, Germany, July 19 (UPI) -- Nicolas Almagro posted a straight-set victory Thursday in moving into the quarterfinals of the German Tennis Championships.

Almagro, the tournament's No. 1 seed, defeated Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-3 with a pair of breaks in each set. He finished off two of his three first-set break opportunities and advanced by clearing 2-of-7 chances in the second.

He moves into the quarterfinals against sixth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber, who got by Fabio Fognini 7-5, 6-2 Thursday. Kohlschreiber lost his serve twice in the first set, but those were on the only break points he faced.

Also in the second round, third-seeded Juan Monaco beat Daniel Munoz-De La Nava 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in a match that took nearly 2 hours, and Jeremy Chardy topped Julian Reister 7-5, 6-4. Monaco and Chardy are to play each other in Friday's quarterfinals.

The other pairings for Friday have fourth-seeded Marin Cilic going against Albert Ramos and No. 7-seeded Florian Mayer facing local favorite Tommy Haas.