BARCELONA OPEN BANCSABADELL

Barcelona Friday Preview

Barcelona, Spain

© Getty ImagesFernando Verdasco is through to the Barcelona quarter-finals for a second straight year.

Four of the Top 8 seeds remain and they will all play non-Top 8 seeds in the quarter-finals Friday in Barcelona.

No. 8 seed David Ferrer is the player remaining with by far the most success at this tournament, having reached the semi-finals or better the last three years (including back-to-back finals the last two years). The 28-year-old Valencia resident owns an amazing 19-2 clay court record this year and he takes on No. 13 seed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil. Ferrer won the pair’s only previous meeting handily, and on clay courts just a few months ago in Acapulco.

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Next on Pista Central is a first-time meeting between No. 5 seed Fernando Verdasco and unseeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. Verdasco, who reached his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final last week in Monte Carlo and as a result returned to the Top 10 this week, had a close escape in his third round match, rallying from 63 20 down to beat No. 11 seed Jurgen Melzer. Gulbis hasn’t lost a set so far this week in three matches and, after some strong indoor play this year, is just six spots away from the career-high of No. 38 he set in August 2008 (he had fallen as low as No. 101 in the time since).

No. 2 seed Robin Soderling, the highest seed in the draw, will be up next against unseeded birthday boy Eduardo Schwank of Argentina. The pair played earlier this year on hard courts in Davis Cup with Soderling winning in straight sets, but Schwank is climbing and climbing, having jumped from outside the Top 100 to No. 59 as of this week.

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No. 3 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against Thiemo de Bakker is the last singles match. Tsonga may have breathed a sigh of relief as de Bakker upset No. 7 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero in the third round here (Ferrero beat Tsonga last week in Monte Carlo); but by virtue of his victory over Ferrero, de Bakker, a former World No. 1 in the juniors, collected his second career Top 20 victory, and both have been on clay - surely a dangerous sign for World No. 10 Tsonga, who could be the young Dutchman’s first Top 10 win.