Cuevas, Davydenko advance to German Open quarterfinals, Soderling upset

Davydenko wins, Soderling upset at German Open

HAMBURG — Nicolas Almagro ended his two-match losing streak against Robin Soderling by beating the third-seeded French Open runner-up 7-5, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the German Open.

The 14th-seeded Spaniard had lost to Soderling at Wimbledon and the Swedish Open last week, but became the first player apart from top-ranked Roger Federer to beat Soderling since May.

Soderling, who won his home tournament in Bastad on Sunday, is 18-4 since May. Three of those losses came against Federer, including the French Open final.

Qualifier Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay upset eighth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-4, 7-6 (8) and second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko ended Jeremy Chardy’s bid for a second title in two weeks by beating the Frenchman 6-3, 6-3.

The 15th-seeded Chardy won his first title last week in Stuttgart to rise to a career-high No. 32 in the rankings. Davydenko is still looking for his first title of the year after being injured for most of the first four months.

Paul-Henri Mathieu of France, seeded 13th, beat German wild card Daniel Brands 7-5, 7-5.

Cuevas never dropped his serve in the match against Kohlschreiber, although he had to save three break points before serving out the first set.

He also saved a set point in the second before sending it to the tiebreaker. Cuevas took a 5-1 lead and held two match points but squandered them with two straight backhand errors.

Kohlschreiber won his third straight point to earn a set point, but wasted it, and Cuevas clinched the encounter on his fourth match point when the German put a forehand wide.

“The longer the match lasted, the better he played,” Kohlschreiber said. “I did not put enough pressure on him, my shots were too short. It was humid and the balls got slower.”

Rain delayed matches on outside courts.