POERTSCHACH (Austria), May 25: Andrei Pavel defeated Austrian wild-card Oliver Marach 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday to move into the semifinals at the Hypo Group tennis tournament.

The 97th-ranked Marach, which beat Vince Spadea and eighth-seeded Gilles Simon in the first two rounds, had his left foot bandaged between the first and second sets.

“My foot hurt the whole time,'' Marach said afterward on Austrian TV.

Marach also praised Pavel for his varied tactics.

“It was really hard,'' Marach said. ''He had a super day.”

Pavel will take on seventh-seeded Luis Horna of Peru, who beat Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-3, 6-4 in both players' second match of the day.

Horna had earlier downed Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-1, 6-1; while Monaco beat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-2, 6-0.

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-2, 6-4 to move into the quarterfinals against Potito Starace, who beat sixth-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Juergen Melzer advanced to the final eight after Richard Gasquet of France retired with an injury while trailing 6-0, 1-1.

Melzer said he had expected a more difficult match and that he'd played a “sensational” first set.

“It's a shame _ I wanted to play until it was over,” Melzer told the Austria Press Agency. “But it's not a disadvantage, since I'll be playing again.”

Melzer will play the Czech Republic's Jiri Novak, who defeated fifth-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-1, 3-

Results (quarterfinals):

1-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) beat Potito Starace (Italy) 6-2 6-1; 7-Luis Horna (Peru) beat Juan Monaco (Argentina) 6-3 6-4; Andrei Pavel (Romania) beat Oliver Marach (Austria) 6-4 6-2.

Second round:

Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) beat 5-Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 6-1 3-6 6-2; Juergen Melzer (Austria) beat Richard Gasquet (France) 6-0 1-1 (Gasquet retired); Potito Starace (Italy) beat 6-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 4-6 6-4 6-1; Juan Monaco (Argentina) beat Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) 6-2 6-0; 7-Luis Horna (Peru) beat Andreas Seppi (Italy) 6-1 6-1; 1-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Spain) 6-2 6-4.

ISTANBUL CUP RESULTS

Quarterfinals: 2-Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) beat Karolina Sprem (Croatia) 6-4 6-4; Michaella Krajicek (Netherlands) beat Anastasiya Yakimova (Belarus) 6-1 6-0; 4-Shahar Peer (Israel) beat 7-Mara Santangelo (Italy) 6-1 6-2.

STRASBOURG RESULTS

Quarterfinals: 4-Anabel Medina (Spain) beat Elena Vesnina (Russia) 6-2 6-4; Shuai Peng (China) beat Martina Mueller (Germany) 7-5 6-4.—Agencies