General / Editor / 13 April 2007 /

The big names have fallen in the opening days of the V Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana. Top seed and local favourite David Ferrer didn't even make it to the start line, forced out by a shoulder injury.

Now second seed and 2003 champion Juan Calos Ferrero has gone. He lost to Alberto Martin, who beat him for the first time in five years to reach the quarter-finals. Martin won 6-4 6-2 and that earned him a quarter-final crack at Spanish wild card Santiago Ventura.

Ventura took nearly three hours to beat Colombian Alejandro Falla 7-5 6-7 6-4.

It will be the first meeting between 28-year-old Martin and 27-year-old Ventura, but there are 265 places between them in the rankings with the more experienced Martin at number 101. Martin is trading at 1.51 to make the semi-finals as he looks to add to his three career titles, while Ventura can be backed at 2.9.

Last year's runner-up and fifth seed Gilles Simon also fell in the second round. The 21-year-old Frenchman, who chalked up his first ATP title win Bordeaux two months ago when he beat Marcos Baghdatis, lost to Spanish qualifier Marcel Granollers-Pujol 6-3 4-6 6-2. That put the 21-year-old, who's birthday it was on Thursday, into his first ATP quarter-final.

He will take on Italian Potito Starace, who beat Spanish qualifier Pablo Andujar 6-4 1-6 6-3 to book his place in the last eight. This is another first-time clash with 6ft 4in Starace, ranked number 89 in the world, facing a player 74 places behind him in the rankings.

Navarro Pastor, the lucky loser who came in for Ferrer at the top of the draw, is also through to the quarter-finals. He knocked out France's Augustin Genesse 7-6 6-4 and now meets Russian teenager Evgeny Korolev. It is Pastor's first quarter-final for two years.

Korolev went through after a three-setter with Argentina's Sergio Roitman 1-6 7-5 6-0. The Russian is already up to world number 66 after reaching the Las Vegas semi-finals and the Sydney quarter-finals and is trading at 1.5 with Betfair to make the last four.

The highest seed left in the tournament -and clearly the man to beat - is defending champion and third seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain. He now meets Filippe Volandri of Italy.

Both players avoided Thursday's delayed and cold day of action in Valencia having reached the last eight on Wednesday.

Almagro beat Italy's Alessio di Mauro 7-5 6-2 while Volandri had it even easier, going through 6-4 1-0 when Stefan Koubek of Austria was forced to retire with an injured left ankle.

Volandri and Almagro have met three times with the Italian leading 2-1 in the battle of the six-footers. Volandri won in the 2005 Hamburg Masters second round 6-3 6-2, while Almagro took their quarter-final at this tournament last year 6-4 6-1 on the way to the title - his only ATP triumph so far. Later in 2006 they met in Palermo, but Almagro was forced to retire at 6-0 2-1 down through injury.

Almagro is trading at 1.49 with Betfair to win the quarter-final, while the Spaniard is available at 2.06 to retain his title. Volandri can be backed at 3 to make the semi-finals.

In Houston at the other opening clay court tournament of the season, American second seed James Blake led the quarter-final charge. He is through to the last eight of the US Clay Court Championships for the fifth time in seven attempts, after beating fellow American Alex Kuznetsov 7-6 6-1.

He now faces eighth seed Juan Monaco of Argentina having won their only meeting in last year's US Open first round in straight sets.

Third seed Tommy Haas is through to the US quarter-finals for the fourth year in a row. The 2004 Houston champion now faces Ivo Karlovic, the giant Croatian who could be facing Britain in the Davis Cup in September. Karlovic, who thunders down serves using his 6ft 10in height, leads Haas 2-1 in head-to-heads.

Fifth seed Jurgen Melzer faces qualifier Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina, while American veteran Vince Spadea meets Spain's Albert Montanes. Melzer has won his only previous meeting with Zabaleta - but it was back in 2002 in Vienna and was 7-6 in the decider.

A win for Spadea will earn him a semi-final shot at either Haas or Karlovic. Spadea and Montanes have never met and there is little between them. Spadea is 77 in the world rankings to Montanes' 84th place.

Spadea, ranked 33nd in July, went into this tournament with a 10-9 win/loss record to 26-year-old Montanes' 6/6.

Hass is the current 2.82 to win this week's event, with Blake trading at 3.2 with Monaco available to back at 7.6.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>