ESTORIL, Portugal, 29 April 2005 — Top seed Carlos Moya outlasted Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-7, 6-4 in a marathon second-round match at the Estoril Open claycourt tournament yesterday.

Moya will play Paul-Henri Mathieu in today’s quarterfinals after the Frenchman thrashed Tomas Cakl 6-1, 6-1.

Also through to the quarterfinals is fourth seed Tommy Robredo who defeated countryman Santiago Ventura 7-5, 6-0.

The Moya-Ferrero contest was the match everyone was looking forward to from the moment the draw was made and it lived up to its billing.

The two former world No. 1s and French Open champions traded blows and counter-punches for two hours 48 minutes.

In the women’s draw, second seed Dinara Safina stormed into the quarterfinals by beating Katerina Bondarenko 6-2, 6-2.

Mariana Diaz-Oliva beat Olga Savchuk 6-2, 6-3, American Jill Craybas overcame Ludmila Cervanova 6-4, 6-1 and Lucie Safarova defeated Michaella Krajicek 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 to complete today’s quarterfinal line-up. Safarova plays Argentine Mariana Diaz-Oliva, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Olga Savchuk of the Ukraine.

Reigning Champ Davydenko Floored in Munich

In Munich, defending champion Nikolay Davydenko became the first major casualty at the 323,250 euro ($419,754) BMW Open when the second seed fell 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in the second round to Dutchman Raemon Sluiter yesterday.

The Russian failed to get going in the first set and Sluiter took the set at 6-1. Davydenko found his momentum to take the second set by the same scoreline but the expected comeback did not materialize with the unfancied Sluiter winning the decisive set 6-3 to book his place in the quarterfinal.

Romanian fifth seed Andrei Pavel will duel with Sluiter in the last eight after disposing of another Dutchman Sjeng Schalken 6-1, 1-6, 6-1. Local German hero Tommy Haas booked his place in the quarterfinal with a 6-3, 6-4 straight sets victory over South Korea’s Hyung-Taik Lee.

Fourth seed Haas is bidding to become the first German player to win the title since Michael Stich in 1994 and admits he is feeling the pressure.

Zvonareva Toppled, Justine Struggles in Warsaw

Third seed Vera Zvonareva was toppled by young Serb Ana Ivanovic while Justine Henin-Hardenne struggled to overcome Venezuela’s Maria Vento-Kabchi for a place in the quarterfinals of the WTA event in Warsaw yesterday.

Ivanovic claimed one of the best victories of her career when she overcame the Russian 6-2, 6-4.

The 17-year-old has leaped up the rankings and beat US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in Miami last month.

World No. 10 Zvonareva failed to find any consistency against her opponent, who played aggressive game and always looked the more confident of the two.

Unseeded Henin-Hardenne was relieved to get past Vento-Kabchi 6-3, 7-5 after seven of the games in the second set went against serve.

Having held a point to lead 3-1 in the second set, she then found herself down 4-2. The former world number one scrambled back to level terms at 4-4 and a backhand error gave her another break for 6-5. Even then, Henin-Hardenne had to fight off three break points as she served out for the match.