Mathieu reaches Munich last eight
Mathieu reaches Munich last eight 
From correspondents in Munich, Germany
Former Australian Captain May 01, 2008
TOP seed Paul-Henri Mathieu advanced to the quarter-finals at the ATP tournament in Munich on a day of few surprises as former world No.1 Marat Safin made the second round.
With a host of top names pulling out of the event, including local heros Tommy Haas and Philipp Kohlschreiber, the clay-court event has been shorn of big names.
Mathieu, ranked No.19
in the world, had a comfortable straight sets win over Italian qualifier Gianluca Naso 6-3 6-4 in the second round and will face No.8 seed Marin Cilic in the last eight.
The Croat beat Germany’s Philipp Petzschner 6-4 7-6 (9-7) earlier in the day in their second-round tussle.
Having slipped down the ATP rankings to 84th after a long injury break, Safin was given a wildcard entry by the Munich organisers and dropped a set as he beat Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq, ranked No.91, 6-3 3-6 6-4 in the first round.
It is a far cry from November 2000 when the 28-year-old was world No.1, but he is on course to meet No.2 seed Fernando Gonzalez from Chile in the quarter-finals, if he beats Germany’s Michael Berrer in the second round.
At the start of the day, No.7 seed Steve Darcis from Belgium had few problems in despatching Germany’s Benjamin Becker 6-3 6-4 in straight sets in the first round.
The only shock of the day was when Italian Simone Bolelli dumped out compatriot and No.8 seed Andreas Seppi in straight sets 6-4 7-5 in the final singles match of the day in the second round.
Bolelli will play South Korea’s Hyung-Taik Lee in the quarter-finals after he beat Brazil’s Julio Silva 6-1 6-4 in the second round.
Agence France-Presse