Nikolay Davydenko defeated Teimuras Gabashvili 6-4, 6-2 in an all-Russian contest Wednesday to advance to the quarter-finals at the Kremlin Cup.
Top-seeded Davydenko, the 2004 champion, survived eight aces from Gabashvili in the first set to close the all-Russian match in one hour 15 minutes.
``I had to run up and down in the first set today,'' said Davydenko, who did not drop a game in his 37-minute first-round match on Tuesday.
Davydenko, ranked fifth, is looking for his third title this season and a berth in the eight-player Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, China in November.
In the first round, seventh-seeded Fabrice Santoro of France beat South Africa's Wesley Moodie 6-3, 6-2. Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia upset eighth-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 7-6 (8), 6-4.
In the women's first round, fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia ousted Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany 6-2, 6-2 with eight aces.
The only two Americans playing in the singles failed to proceed to the second round Wednesday.
On the men's side, Kevin Kim retired with a back injury after loosing the first set at love to Max Mirnyi of Belarus. In the women's, sixth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland knocked out Chanda Rubin 6-3, 6-0.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
