Top seed Fernando Verdasco had to fight off a match point before beating Daniel Koellerer in Bastad.
Top seed battles his way through in Sweden
Fernando Verdasco, the top seed, had to fight off a match point before beating Daniel Koellerer to make the quarter-finals of the Swedish Open.
Spaniard Verdasco was on the verge of a shock exit in Bastad before coming through a tough encounter 6-7, 6-2, 7-5 to make the last eight.
Unseeded Austrian Koellerer reached match point at 5-4 in the third set, but as Verdasco served to stay in the contest his opponent hit a long return and two unforced errors as the set was levelled at 5-5.
Verdasco broke in the next game and then just about crawled over the line after a three-hour battle which took a lot out of him.
"It was really hard," Verdasco said. "He played really good.
Tired legs
"My last weekend in the Davis Cup was so hard. I played 11½ hours in three days, two five-set matches and the other one four sets with a lot of pressure. It's hard for me to be 100 percent all the time. My legs felt a little bit tired."
Koellerer had treatment for cramp in his calf late in the final set, and even had to be helped back to his chair after being broken in the penultimate game.
"I was cramping all over my legs, but at 5-5 it was impossible to play any more," Koellerer said.
"I'm really disappointed because I had a lot of chances in the third set. It was a very good match. At the end I think he deserved to win."
Verdasco will need to recover quickly as he takes on Juan Monaco in the last eight, after the Argentinian defeated Victor Crivoi of Romania 6-0 7-6.
Fourth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria defeated Daniel-Gimeno Traver of Spain 6-2 6-2 and now faces unseeded Swede Andreas Vinciguerra after his three-set win over Guillermo Canas.
No. 5 Nicolas Almagro, the fifth seed, came from a set down to beat Potito Starace 2-6 6-1 6-1 and reach the last eight, where Sweden's Robin Soderling will be waiting, while defending champion Tommy Robredo plays Teimuraz Gabashvili in the last of the quarter-finals.
