STOCKHOLM – Cypriot tennis star Marcos Baghdatis earned a good-natured win into his third quarter-final of the season with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of American
Robert Kendrick on Thursday at the Stockholm Open.Life is sweet again for the 2006 Australian Open finalist whose career has ridden a roller-coaster of injuries in recent seasons. At a low point this season he was stretchered off a court with back problems. But after moving into a Friday clash with another ex-Melbourne runner-up in Frenchman Arnaud Clement, little can dim the new-found Baghdatis enthusiasm. "I'm feeling fit which is the most important thing," said the winner of a Challenger title last week in Tashkent, concluding a week of an indifferent autumn Asian swing for the world number 66. "When you wake up in the morning and you don't feel any pain, it's easier to play good tennis. I'm having a good run now and enjoying myself on the court. I'm hungry to do well and I want to come back stronger than before." Baghdatis is making his Stockholm debut and began with a win over former number one Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero. Veteran qualifier Clement, ranked 138th, wore down Michael Berrer 3-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-1 in two and a half hours to go through at the Kungligahallen despite two aces off the German's racket. Finn Jarkko Nieminen moved ahead at the expense of second seed Tommy Haas, with the one-time world number two forced to quit due to a bout of flu before their second-round match. It is the second time in a week the 31-year-old Haas has pulled out of a tournament. He retired after the first set of his Shanghai match against Rainer Schuettler with shoulder pain. Nieminen, his ranking now down to 120th due to a comeback after spring wrist surgery, will play in the last eight against Belgian Oliver Rochus, who out out eighth seed Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. Top-seeded world number 10 Robin Soderling, 2009 Roland Garros finalist, was bidding for the last eight against Italian Andreas Seppi, with the Swede looking to improve his provisional ninth position for next month's eight-man ATP World Tour Finals in London. (Reuters)