June 16, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 30, 1428

LONDON, June 15: Rafael Nadal needed just three minutes on Friday to swat aside Max Mirnyi 7-6, 6-3 and reach the quarter-finals at Queen's.

The French Open champion had been on the brink of winning his third-round match on Thursday when rain suspended play for the day.

Stranded at 7-6, 5-3 overnight, Nadal was in no mood to hang around on Friday as he knew he would have to return to the court later in the day for his last-eight outing.

The Belarussian managed to win only one point on the Spaniard's serve on Friday before bowing out.

Roland Garros semi-finalist Novak Djokovic and fifth seed Ivan Ljubicic are among those also playing catch-up and face back-to-back matches if they are to reach the last four.

Three-time former champion Andy Roddick and Chilean third seed Fernando Gonzalez were scheduled to be action in a quarter-final later on Friday.

Roddick had a bumpy ride into the quarter-finals on Thursday, pushed all the way on his favoured grass surface by British wildcard Alex Bogdanovic.

The world No 5 looked the lesser player for much of the contest that he eventually won 4-6, 7-6, 6-4.

Bogdanovic, ranked 117 in the world, rattled Roddick by finding the lines on both sides of the court and wrong-footing the American with a powerful backhand.

Bogdanovic broke the famous Roddick serve in the third game and clung on to his lead to take the first set with two big serves of his own.

The pair looked evenly matched throughout the second set with Bogdanovic, 23, saving a set point in the 10th game.

He took the 24-year-old American to the brink in the tiebreak and, but for a challenged line call, would have had match point.

Roddick called for the new Hawkeye technology to track his shot that was called out at 5-5 and it found the ball had in fact clipped the line.

The second seed took the tiebreak 7-5. Although he expected to feel more in command on grass after his humiliating first-round exit at the French Open on clay earlier this month, it was not until the seventh game of the third set that he broke the British number three's serve.

Cilic, 18, the top junior in the world last year, overcame French qualifier Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, second-round victor over defending champion Lleyton Hewitt, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Gonzalez advanced stealthily early in the day, beating American Robby Ginepri 6-2, 7-5.

Though he commands none of the headlines Nadal and Roddick, the Australian Open runner-up, ranked sixth in the world, has some grasscourt pedigree having reached the quarter-finals here last year and at Wimbledon in 2005.

Eighth seed Marat Safin went out 7-6, 7-6 to Ivo Karlovic, the 2.08 metre-tall Croat who comes into his own on grass where he slams down big serves.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Third round:

Played on Friday: 1-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat Max Mirnyi (Belarus) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.Played on Thursday: Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) beat 8-Marat Safin (Russia) 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4); 7-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) beat 12-Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-3; 2-Andy Roddick (US) beat Alex Bogdanovic (Britain) 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; Marin Cilic (Croatia) beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; 3-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) beat 15-Robby Ginepri (US) 6-2, 7-5.

Second round: Safin beat Sebastien Grosjean (France) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

DAVYDENKO UPSET

HALLE (Germany): Russian second seed Nikolay Davydenko fell to Germany's Florian Mayer 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the Halle Open on Thursday.

On a bad day for Russians at the grasscourt tournament, sixth seed Mikhail Youzhny was forced to pull out with a back injury 24 hours before his scheduled quarter-final against Tomas Berdych.

Berdych, the fourth seed from the Czech Republic, goes straight through to the semi-finals.

Jarkko Nieminen of Finland and eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus joined Mayer in the quarter-finals by winning close matches on Stadium Court.

Nieminen overcame Andrei Pavel of Romania 7-6, 3-6, 6-1, while Baghdatis, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year, recovered to beat Sweden's Robin Soderling 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.

After losing the first set, Baghdatis, seeded eighth, quickly went a break down in the second and it needed a great comeback to see him through to the last eight.

Davydenko's defeat by Mayer was no real surprise given how much the Russian has struggled on grass over the years.

The 26-year-old has never won back-to-back matches on the surface and he never looked likely to here as Mayer kept him pinned back.

Thursday’s results:

Second round: Marc Gicquel (France) beat Benjamin Becker (Germany) 6-2, 7-6 (7-5); Florian Mayer (Germany) beat 2-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) 6-4, 6-4; Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) beat Andrei Pavel (Romania) 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-1; 8-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) beat Robin Soederling (Sweden) 6-7 (9-11), 6-4, 6-3.

PLAY WASHED OUT

BIRMINGHAM: Rain washed out the fourth day of the Birmingham classic women's tournament on Thursday and organisers said competitors would have to play two matches on Friday to catch up.

Second seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia starts on centre court, taking on Maria Kirilenko of Russia in their third round match.

Top seeded Russian Maria Sharapova is scheduled to follow her on court against Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek.

Daniela Hantuchova, seeded three, faces Eleni Daniilidou of Greece.

Quarter-finals will follow in the afternoon, weather permitting.—Reuters