Gael Monfils beat fellow Frenchman Josselin Ouanna in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals of the South African Open Thursday. Monfils, the top seed, had too much firepower for his compatriot as he clinched a 6-4, 7-5 win in one hour 20 minutes. Monfils made a quick start to the match, breaking Ouanna's serve in the fourth game of the first set, to move 3-1 ahead. Ouanna, ranked 121st in the world, broke back immediately to fight his way back into the contest but Monfils claimed the first set after 39 minutes when Ouanna hit an unforced error to surrender his serve. Monfils, who hit 12 aces during the match, set up a clash with seventh seed Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan who ended the run of the final South African in the draw, Raven Klaasen, with a 6-4, 7-5 win. Spain's David Ferrer, the second seed, was made to work hard by Swedish qualifier Filip Prpic for a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Ferrer, who produced 56 unforced errors, will now play India's Somdev Davvarman who beat Brazilian Thiago Alves 6-4, 6-1. Cilic in last 8 In Croatia, defending champion Marin Cilic cruised into the quarterfinals of the Zagreb Indoors Thursday by defeating Daniel Koellerer of Austria 6-2, 6-1. The top-seeded Croat dropped only seven points on serve. After two matches at the tournament, Cilic has spent only 1 hour, 57 minutes on the court. It has been a good season for the 22-year-old Cilic so far. He won the ATP tournament in Chennai, India, in January and reached the semifinals at the Australian Open last week. Cilic will next face another local player in Ivo Karlovic, who defeated French qualifier Alexandre Sidorenko 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8). Lukas Lacko of Slovakia also reached the quarterfinals, ousting 2006 champ Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-6 (5). Lacko will play Philipp Petzschner of Germany, who defeated compatriot Benjamin Becker 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6) after saving match point in the third-set tiebreaker. Germany's Michael Berrer also advanced after beating Croatia's Petar Jelenic 6-4, 6-3. Gonzalez in quarters Top-seeded Fernando Gonzalez reached the quarterfinals of his hometown Movistar Open for the eighth successive year when he beat Spanish qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-4, 6-3 Wednesday. The Chilean star lost his serve only once, blowing a 3-1 lead, then broke Hidalgo three times in wrapping up his 30th win in the tournament's history, against only five defeats. Next up for Gonzalez will be another Spaniard, Marcel Granollers, who won 6-4, 6-2 against Lukasz Kubot of Poland, coming off a fourth-round effort at the Australian Open. Alberto Martin of Spain, making his season debut in Santiago, reached the Movistar last eight for the first time since 2001 with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Ricardo Mello of Brazil. Martin will face another Brazilian next, qualifier Joao Souza. Having qualified for his first ATP Tour event, Souza made the quarterfinals by defeating Pere Riba of Spain 6-4, 6-4. Souza, who turned pro at 17 in 2006, won three matches in qualifying, upset seventh-seeded Simon Greul in the first round, then outlasted Riba in the first set and earned the only break in the second.
