London, June 16:

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal reached the quarter-finals at Queen’s Club outlasting fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 2-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3) on Thursday.

The French Open champion next faces three-time Queen’s winner Lleyton Hewitt, who edged Max Mirnyi of Belarus 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4).

Second-seeded Ivan Ljubicic was beaten 7-6 (11), 7-5 by rising French teenager Gael Monfils, and three-time defending champion Andy Roddick saved three first-set points against Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan before winning 7-6 (5), 6-3.

In other matches, James Blake topped Robby Ginepri 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in an all-American clash, Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez outlasted Australian wild card Mark Philippoussis 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, Dmitry Tursunov of Russia beat Wang Yeu-tzuoo of Taiwan 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, and Tim Henman of Britain defeated Nicolas Mahut of France 6-3, 6-4.

DFS Classic

BIRMINGHAM: Maria Sharapova swept China’s Li Na aside in straight sets on Thursday to keep her bid for a third straight victory at the DFS Classic firmly on track. The Russian star cruised into the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-4 win and will now face 12th seed Mara Santangelo, who accounted for 5th seed Ai Sugiyami 7-6 (7/4) 6-4.

Jamea Jackson caused the shock of the tournamentdefeating last year’s finalist Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 0-6, 7-5. Francesca Schiavone came from a set down against Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova before clinching her place in the last eight.

Anna Chakvetadze lost to Russian compatriot Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 6-3. Elena Likhovtseva gave Russia third quarter-final berth after beating Lisa Raymond of the US 7-5, 6-4.

Sania Mirza of India blew a great chance to reach her first quarter-final since October on Thursday. Mirza led by a set and 3-1, and by 5-3 in the final set before somehow contriving to lose 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) to Meilen Tu, a qualifier from the United States, in the third round.

Gerry Weber Open

HALLE: Roger Federer won his 38th straight match on grass, overcoming Richard Gasquet of France 7-6 (7), 6-7 (7), 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals of the Gerry Weber Open on Thursday.

If Federer wins, he’ll equal the record of 41 straight grass-court wins set by Bjorn Borg from 1976 to 1981. The top-seeded Federer made 41 unforced errors, allowing Gasquet to extend the match to three sets.

Olivier Rochus beat Marat Safin of Russia 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. Rochus will play Federer, whom he hasn’t beaten in four tries. Tommy Haas handily took care of Italy’s Andreas Seppi, 6-1, 6-2, and will face Robin Soderling of Sweden, who eliminated Andrei Pavel of Romania, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. Tomas Berdych beat fellow Czech Jiri Novak 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5 to set up a match against Fabrice Santoro, a 6-4, 7-6 (2) winner over Arnaud Clement.