Tsonga, Melzer reach quarterfinals in Vienna

Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced to the quarterfinals of the Erste Bank Open on Thursday after his opponent Jarkko Nieminen of Finland pulled out with a right thigh injury while the Frenchman was leading 3-6, 6-1, 3-1.Earlier, Jurgen Melzer of Austria opened his quest for a third straight title at the event in Vienna with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain, and Tommy Haas of Germany reached his first ATP tour quarterfinal in more than two years by defeating Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.The ninth-ranked Tsonga dropped his first service game to go 3-0 down and scored only five points against Nieminens serve in the opening set. But the Frenchman soon took control of the match with two breaks in the second set, hitting 14 aces in total.Tsonga said he was hoping for a strong finish to his season, in which he split up with coach Eric Winogradsky after working together for seven years.Tsonga next plays Xavier Melisse of Belgium, who rallied to beat the eighth-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3.The third-seeded Melzer, who had a bye in the first round, held serve throughout and didnt face a break point until in the third game of the second set.Melzers match was initially scheduled for Wednesday but he asked organizers for an extra day off to rest a right thigh injury.The former second-ranked Haas, who missed the entire last season because of hip and elbow surgery, started to serve better after losing the opening set to Bedene and finished with 10 aces.Haas, who won the event in Vienna in 2001, will play second-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro for a place in the semifinals.Also, the 182nd-ranked Daniel Brands of Germany upset fourth-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-6 (4), and next plays Steve Darcis of Belgium, who downed Austrian wildcard Dominic Thiem 6-2, 6-2.