Estoril Open 2004 News and Events

Rafael Nadal
© João Lagos Sports

Russia's Marat Safin moved through to the quarterfinals of the Estoril Open with a routine 6-4, 6-4 victory over Thierry Ascione. Safin, the No. 8 seed, overcame an early bout of dizziness and the blustery conditions to book his place in the last eight in 1 hour, 15 minutes.

Safin, who has now won 15 of his last 17 matches against French opponents, now meets Spain's Tommy Robredo for a place in the semifinals after the No. 4 seed overcame Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina 6-1, 7-6(6).

"I wasn't feeling very well at the beginning of the match, I was a bit dizzy, but after that went, I was a lot better," said Safin. "It was actually a much better match for me than my first round. I'm feeling a lot more confident on the court and I'm a lot happier with my game today."

On his match against Robredo, Safin said: "I don't think I will have to change my strategy too much. I know I have to stay with him from the baseline and I have to do something extra against him as it's going to be very difficult on clay. He's used to the clay after playing in Davis Cup last week. It's a good test for me and these are the kind of matches that you need to win to give you confidence for the clay season."

Robredo also was looking forward to his sixth career meeting with the Russian. "He knows I'm going to play from the baseline," said Robredo. "I will try to play as many balls as I can and make him run. I will do my best tomorrow."

Elsewhere on day four at the Estadio Nacional, Irakli Labadze booked his berth in the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Belarus Davis Cup hero Max Mirnyi. Labadze, a semifinalist at the Pacific Life Open last month, will now meet Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal, who won the battle of the 17-year-olds against Richard Gasquet.

Nadal, born just 15 days before his French opponent, booked a place in his third quarterfinal of the season with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory in 2 hours, 29 minutes. Nadal, a finalist in Auckland earlier this year, had his left ankle strapped in the second set before recovering to break Gasquet twice in the final set, sealing victory with a cross-court backhand winner.

"I think it was a tough match for both of us," said Nadal. "I think I had more pressure on my side because I'm No. 34 in the world and he still is 94, so mentally it was a very good win because it was the first one against him."

And Nadal admitted he thought about retiring with the pain in his left ankle. "It all happened yesterday against Goran. I started feeling pain and today I went to the match without knowing if I was able to finish it. In some moments I thought about retiring because I was really in pain. Tomorrow we will see how it goes. This tournament is very important for me because I can win a lot of precious points."

Gasquet said: "It's not only his forehand that's tough, he is good from both sides and wins a lot of points on his serve. He's a very good player. He doesn't give any points away, he's very forceful in the way he plays and he's got a very good physique."