GSTAAD, Switzerland, 15 July 2006 — Defending champion Gaston Gaudio suffered a quarterfinal exit at the Swiss Open yesterday, losing 6-3, 6-2 to 20-year-old Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

The Argentine second seed slumped at the end of the first set and the start of the second, losing five games in a row.

Gasquet completed his victory over the 2004 French Open champion with an ace to set up a semifinal encounter with Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Kohlschreiber, currently 72nd in the world, booked his place in the last four with a surprise 6-3 4-6 6-4 win over Spanish third seed Fernando Verdasco.

Top seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia also had to work hard to avoid a second round defeat at the hands of Swiss wildcard Marco Chiudinelli.

Playing an opponent ranked 337 places beneath him, the world No. 4 lost the opening set on a tiebreak before eventually coming through 6-7, 6-3, 6-2.

Heavy rain has disrupted the schedule over the past two days and Ljubicic is due back on court later on Friday for his quarter-final against Spanish sixth seed Feliciano Lopez.

Lopez completed a 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 win over fellow Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hildalgo after the match had been held over.

Davydenko, Calleri, Robredo and Nieminen in Semifinals

In Bastad, Sweden, top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Nicolas Massu in straight sets yesterday to reach the semifinals of the Swedish Open.

“I’m very happy to have reached my first semifinal in Bastad,” Davydenko said. “It was difficult to control the ball because of the strong winds, but I still managed to play well.” Davydenko won 6-4, 6-3 before a sold-out center court crowd of nearly 7,000.

In the semifinals, the Russian will play Agustin Calleri of Argentina, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Robin Soderling, the last Swede left in the clay-court event.

Second-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain also advanced, beating qualifier Evgeny Korolev 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in a quarterfinal lasting nearly two hours.

After losing the first set, Robredo broke the 18-year-old Russian in the opening game and then again in the last game at love.

In the decisive set, Robredo broke to lead 2-0 and then held the rest of the way. Robredo served steadily throughout, getting 82 percent of his first serves in.

In Saturday’s semifinals, Robredo will meet fourth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, who ousted former top-ranked player Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 7-6 (5), 6-2.

“This time I want to make the final after losing three times in the semis here,” Robredo said. “It was tough in the first set today. He hits the ball really hard and made me run a lot. The wind was difficult, but it doesn’t matter when the fans are so great.” Robredo reached a career-high ATP ranking of No. 7 in May after winning the Hamburg Masters — his biggest title so far.

Davydenko broke to lead 2-1 with a backhand return and that was all he needed to take the opening set. In the second set, he broke the Chilean 1-0 and then again to love for a 5-2 lead.

This was the ninth quarterfinal of the year for the 25-year-old Davydenko, who has a career-best ATP ranking of No. 5.

Davydenko also reached the quarterfinals here in 2002, but lost to Carlos Moya.

Rafael Nadal, the defending Swedish Open champion, withdrew from the tournament last week. The No. 2-ranked Spaniard, who lost the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer, has won a record 60 matches on clay.

Bogdanovic Advances at Rain-Hit Hall of Fame Tourney

In New York, Britain’s Alex Bogdanovic stopped Switzerland’s George Bastl 6-2 7-6 (8-6) to reach the quarterfinals of the Hall of Fame Championships on Thursday as rain continued to disrupt play with only three matches completed.

Top seed Andy Murray of Britain and American wildcard Sam Querrey will need a third day to decide their second-round contest.

The match was originally scheduled for Wednesday but was postponed due to rain and then postponed again on Thursday with Murray leading 5-3 when heavy rain once again swept across Newport, Rhode Island.

There was just enough break in the weather to allow eighth seeded American Justin Gimelstob to dispose of Australian Wayne Arthurs 6-3 7-6 (7-1) in their rain-delayed second-round match. In the day’s only other completed match, Denmark’s Kristian Pless battled past Chile’s Paul Capdeville 6-4 4-6 6-4.