Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray led the way as the top six seeds reached the quarterfinals of the $2.23 million Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday. Second-seeded Murray, the winner of two titles this year in Doha and Rotterdam, scored a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 victory over Arnaud Clement of France, but top-seeded Djokovic had to fight hard to beat Jan Hernych of Czech Republic 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Murray will meet another Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, for a place in Friday's semifinals, while Djokovic faces Croatia's Marin Cilic, winner of this year's tournaments in Chennai and Zagreb. Seeds three to six, Frenchman Gilles Simon, Spain's David Ferrer, Cilic and Russian Igor Andreev also made it through to the next round. Simon was a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia, while Ferrer also scored a quick 6-4, 6-2 win over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber. Cilic was stretched to three sets by Frenchman Julien Benneteau before winning 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 and Andreev also went the distance before beating fellow Russian Dmitry Tursunov 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Israel's Andy Ram, granted special permission late last week to play after Israeli player Shahar Peer was barred from entering the country to play in the women's tournament, lost his first round doubles match. Ram and his partner, Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe, the fourth seeds, lost to Marat Safin and Ferrer 6-3, 3-6, 10-8. Korolev in quarters Russian qualifier Evgeny Korolev and Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez advanced to the quarterfinals of the ATP Delray Beach International Championships with three-set triumphs on Wednesday. Korolev eliminated American Robert Kendrick 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to book a final eight daye with Garcia-Lopez, who rallied to defeat Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. US second seed Sam Querrey will face Belgium's Christophe Rochus and Taiwan's eighth-seeded Lu Yen-Hsun will meet Austrian Stefan Koubek, the 2000 winner here, in later matches at the 500,000-dollar hardcourt tournament. On Tuesday, top-seeded Mardy Fish of the US moved into the second round with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Canada's Frank Dancevic. Marco Baghdatis of Cyprus also advanced with a 7-5, 6-2 upset win over of third-seeded Latvian Ernests Gulbis. Nalbandian falls Top-seeded David Nalbandian was knocked out by Austrian qualifier Daniel Koellerer 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Mexican Open on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Nicolas Almagro of Spain and Flavia Pennetta of Italy began their title defenses with straight-sets wins. Almagro, back as the fourth seed, spoiled Santiago Gonzalez's 26th birthday with a 6-4, 6-2 win over the Mexican wild card. Three other Spaniards also started well, with two-time champion Carlos Moya fighting past countryman Pablo Andujar 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-2 seventh-seeded Marcel Granollers topping Fabio Fognini of Italy 7-6 (3), 7-5, and Alberto Martin putting away Marcos Daniel of Brazil 6-4, 7-5. Second-seeded Gael Monfils celebrated his career-high No. 10 ranking this week by firing 17 aces on the clay past fellow Frenchman Olivier Patience in a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win in his Acapulco debut. Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil was next. Fifth-seeded Jose Acasuso won an all-Argentine match with Brian Dabul 6-3, 7-5. Women's second seed Pennetta swept Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1 to improve her record in the tournament to 25-4. Eighth-seeded Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain beat countrywoman and qualifier Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2, 6-3, while third-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain defeated Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine 7-5, 6-3. Other winners included lucky loser Agnes Szavay of Hungary, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic, Mathilde Johansson of France, and Maret Ani of Estonia. Another Bogota semifinalist, Edina Gallovits of Romania, lost to Greta Arn of Hungary 6-2, 6
