Davydenko, Blake advance at Estoril Open

Oeiras, Portugal:

Second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko reached the quarterfinals of the Estoril Open with a 7-5, 6-2 win on Wednesday over Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Davydenko, the 2003 champion and a two-time runner-up at the outdoor clay-court event, broke the Spaniard in the ninth game of the first set and cruised to victory in the second.

The Russian, who reached the semifinals of the Barcelona Open last month, will meet sixth-seeded Mardy Fish in the next round. They have never met on clay.

The American battled from a set down to beat Spaniard Ivan Navarro 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Oscar Hernandez upset third-seeded David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4.

The fourth-seeded James Blake recovered from a poor start to beat Frederico Gil of Portugal 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in their first-round game.

Blake struggled with his serve in the first set, while Gil won three of his service games to love and broke the American in the 11th game.

Blake improved in the second, but had to save a break point in the fifth game and looked uncomfortable in long baseline rallies.

In the decider, Blake broke the 68th-ranked Gil in the second game and then survived three break points in the following game.

"It was very tough," Blake said. "I just hung in, I've got a lot of experience, and things started going my way."

In the women's second round, Slovakia's Jarmila Groth upset top-seeded Iveta Benesova 7-5, 6-4, while third-seeded Sorana Cirstea advanced with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Maret Ani and No. 4 seed Sabrine Lisicki defeated Russia's Elena Bovina 6-4, 7-5.

Seventh-seeded Shahar Peer eliminated Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-4, 6-1, while eighth-seeded Anna-Lena Groenefeld overcame German compatriot Kristina Barrois 6-4, 6-4.