Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray cruised into the Barcelona Open quarterfinals with straight-set victories Thursday. Nadal broke Robert Farah of Colombia in the first game on his way to a 6-2, 6-3 victory for his 31st straight win at the tournament. The six-time champion set up a last-eight match with fifth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic after the Serbian beat Frederico Gil 6-2, 6-2. “It may sound stupid but against players like him you have to go for victory, if you look for a fight you've already lost,” Tipsarevic said. “Rafa is playing like he always does on clay, the best, but I'll go out there looking to win and see what happens.” Nadal beat Tipsarevic 6-1, 6-0, 6-2 in their last meeting, in the Davis Cup three years ago. Murray made quick work of another Colombian in a 6-1, 6-2 win over Santiago Giraldo, the fourth-ranked Briton serving up nine aces. Murray will play Milos Raonic next after the Canadian eased past Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-3. Also, third-seeded David Ferrer broke Albert Montanes five times to brush aside the fellow Spaniard 6-0, 6-2, while 2010 winner Fernando Verdasco defeated Kevin Anderson of South Africa 6-4, 6-4. Japan's Kei Nishikori beat Spain's Albert Ramos 7-6 (2), 6-3 and Feliciano Lopez also reached the last eight with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Jarkko Nieminen. Azarenka advances World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka moved into the Stuttgart indoor tournament quarterfinals Thursday as fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki was upset by Angelique Kerber. Azarenka will face in-form Mona Barthel of Germany for a place in the last four after Germany's Andrea Petkovic retired with an ankle injury while trailing the Belarussian top seed 6-2, 4-4. German Mona Barthel kept up her spectacular form this year with a 6-3, 6-1 demolition of world number seven Marion Bartoli to book her spot in the last eight and notch her first career victory over a top-10 player. World No. 5 Sam Stosur avenged last year's semifinal defeat by Julia Goerges, beating the German defending champion 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal against world No. 2 Maria Sharapova. German Kerber also caused a major upset, dismantling former world number one Wozniacki 6-1, 6-2 to set up a mouth-watering clash with Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. The Czech advanced with a comfortable straight-set victory over Italy's Francesca Schiavone while China's Li Na beat Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-4. Troicki, Baghdatis lose In Bucharest, Seeded players Viktor Troicki of Serbia and Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus lost in the second round of the Nastase Tiriac Trophy Thursday. Fourth-seeded Troicki was defeated by Matthias Bachinger of Germany 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2), while fifth-seeded Baghdatis lost to Fabio Fognini of Italy 7-5, 7-6 (4). In an all-Italian quarterfinal, Fognini will play against sixth-seeded Andreas Seppi, who beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany, 6-2, 6-3. Top-seeded Gilles Simon of France defeated Dudi Sela of Israel, 6-4, 6-2 and will meet Lukasz Kubot of Poland next. Kubot, seeded seventh, beat Marius Copil of Romania, 6-3, 6-3. Halep stuns Medina Garrigues In Fez, Morocco, two-time runner-up Simona Halep knocked out top-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-2, 6-1 to reach the semifinals of the Grand Prix SAR Thursday. The fifth-seeded Halep, who lost the past two finals, did not face a single break point and broke Medina Garrigues's serve five times. Halep is the only seeded player remaining in the tournament and the Romanian next faces qualifier Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, who advanced to the last four by beating Spain's Garbine Muguruza Blanco 6-1, 6-4. In another upset, Mathilde Johansson of France beat third-seeded Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4 to set up a semifinal against Spain's Laura Pous-Tio, who broke serve five times en route to a 6-4, 6-1 win against Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania.
