Sleepless Haas wide awake
Sleepless Haas wide awake 
From Barry Wood in Dubai
Former Australian Captain March 01, 2007
GERMANY’S Tommy Haas showed little sign of his gruelling schedule, reaching the Dubai Open quarter-finals with a 7-6 6-3 win over Frances’s Florent Serra overnight.
The fifth seed flew from Memphis, after beating Andy Roddick on Sunday to win his 11th career title, taking the court 18 hours after arriving here to defeat Radek Stepanek.
Haas and Serra struggled to settle
with breaks in the first four games, but the contest then went with serve until the German took the tiebreak 7-5.
A break for 2-1 in the second set deflated Serra for a time, allowing Haas to break again for 4-1.
He held a point for 5-1 but dropped his serve before claiming victory on his third match point when the Frenchman double-faulted.
“I only had four hours sleep and was up at 5.30, but I feel fine and it will take a tough opponent to beat me,” said Haas.
Sixth seed Czech Tomas Berdych lost 7-6 6-3 to recent Rotterdam champion Mikhail Youzhny from Russia, while Sweden’s Robin Soderling defeated Slovakia’s Dominik Hrbaty 6-3 7-5.
Fabrice Santoro also outplayed fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4 6-2.
Reuters