Becker advances to quarterfinals at Ordina Open

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

Becker broke in the 11th game of the first set. He took advantage when Verdasco made a string of errors in the second-set tiebreaker.

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

Ivan Navarro defeated 2008 finalist Marc Gicquel 6-4 3-6 7-5, and Marcos Baghdatis beat second-seeded Tommy Robredo 7-5, 6-2 to set up a second-round clash with Ramon Sluiter.

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

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

Robredo said Baghdatis deserved to win the match, which was postponed because of darkness.

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

On the women's side, Tamarine Tanasugarn dispatched seventh-seeded Iveta Benesova 6-3 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals.

Fifth-seeded Alona Bondarenko beat Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-3, but No. 2 Dominika Cibulkova lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to Nathalie Dechy.

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