French tennis player Gael Monfils on Thursday reached the quarter-finals of the Japan Open after beating his compatriot Gilles Simon here.
Monfils, who ended his four-game losing streak against Simon, defeated his opponent 6-1, 6-4 in one hour and 16 minutes, reports Efe.
Monfils will now face world no. 21 Croatian Ivo Karlovic in the quarters, who advanced after beating Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (9), 7-6 (5) in one hour and 48 minutes.
In other matches, Gilles Muller defeated Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 6-4 in 70 minutes.
Muller will now take on Australian Nick Kyrgios, who reached this round after the withdrawal of Czech Radek Stepanek due to a back injury.
--IANS
gau/bg