Malisse eases into LA quarters

Xavier Malisse maintained his title challenge at the Farmers Classic by beating Matthew Ebden 6-4 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

Belgian sets up last eight showdown with Querrey

Xavier Malisse maintained his title challenge at the Farmers Classic by beating Australia's Matthew Ebden 6-4 6-3 to reach the last eight. The 32-year-old Malisse, seeded fifth at the Los Angeles-based hard-court event, will face two-time tournament champion Sam Querrey in Friday's quarter-finals. "I'll try to put as many returns (as possible) in play, that's the first thing," Malisse said. "I've just got to go out and look at my own game. Try to concentrate on what I'm doing, keep trying to hit serves like that and be aggressive." "I feel like I played a lot more aggressive than in the first round. I have to stick to that. I'm going to miss some shots, but eventually it's paying off. It's better for me to play that way." Fourth-seeded Frenchman Nicolas Mahut overcame Italian Paolo Lorenzi 7-5 7-6 (9/7) to set up a quarter-final against Lithuanian qualifier Ricardas Berankis, who produced another upset by stunning Russia's Igor Andreev 6-4 7-5. Elsewhere, sixth-seeded Australian Marinko Matosevic toppled Tobias Kamke 6-3 1-6 6-0 and will next face American veteran Michael Russell, who ousted top-seeded Frenchman Benoit Paire 7-5 6-4.