Verdasco dumped out of Ordina Open

Benjamin Becker celebrated his 28th birthday by upsetting top-seeded Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 7-6 (4) to reach the Ordina Open quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Becker broke in the 11th game of the first set and the German qualifier took advantage when world No. 8 Verdasco made a string of errors in the second-set tiebreaker.

"This is, of course, nice," Becker said. "It is without doubt one of the biggest wins of my career."

Next up for Becker will be Michael Llodra, the 2004 champ and 2005 runner-up from France who beat Kristof Vliegen of Belgium 6-2, 6-3.

Ivan Navarro of Spain downed 2008 finalist Marc Gicquel of France 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, and Dudi Sela of Israel claimed his place in the quarterfinals at the grass-court warmup for Wimbledon with a 6-4, 6-3 win over fifth-seeded Igor Kunitsyn of Russia.

Earlier, Marcos Baghdatis beat second-seeded Tommy Robredo 7-5, 6-2 to set up a second-round clash with Ramon Sluiter of the Netherlands.

The Cypriot, who reached the Ordina Open semifinals in 2006, broke Robredo four times and dropped serve once.

"It's encouraging to win against a player like Tommy," Baghdatis said.

Robredo, a three-time semifinalist at Ordina, lost for a third straight time to Baghdatis.

"Grass is not my favourite surface," Robredo said. "I think I will need a little bit of time to play my game. Marcos is a good player."

On the women's side, top-ranked Dinara Safina defeated Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-0, 6-3 in her opener.

But second-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to Nathalie Dechy of France, while fifth-seeded Alona Bondarenko beat Stephanie Foretz of France 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-3. Foretz made the draw as a replacement for Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, who won her first WTA title at Birmingham on Sunday.

Defending champion Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand dispatched seventh-seeded Iveta Benesova 6-3 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals but 2006 champ Michaella Krajicek was bounced out by Kristina Barrois of Germany 6-4, 6-3.

Other second-round winners included third-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy, and wild card Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium, who ousted fourth-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-4, 6-3.

AP