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Davydenko wins; Youzhny, Safin bow out in Moscow

By Sports Network -- The Sports Network

Top-seeded and defending champion Nikolay Davydenko advanced to the quarterfinals, while his fellow Russian seeds Mikhail Youzhny and Marat Safin came up second-round losers Thursday at the $1 million ATP Kremlin Cup.

The U.S. Open semifinalist Davydenko got past Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti 6-4, 6-4 on the indoor surface at Olympic Stadium. Davydenko defeated Safin in last year's popular all-Russian Moscow finale and also titled here in 2004.

Davydenko will appear in his 11th quarterfinal of 2007.

The gritty Davydenko's quarterfinal opponent on Friday will be his fellow Russian Igor Andreev, who handled a fifth-seeded Safin 6-4, 6-4. Andreev and Davydenko account for the last three titlists here, as Andreev was the champ in 2005.

A second-seeded Youzhny gave way to German Michael Berrer 7-5, 6-4, while yet another upset saw Serbian Janko Tipsarevic take out third-seeded Brit Andy Murray, last week's Metz runner-up, 6-4, 7-5.

The other quarters will pit fourth-seeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu against his countryman Florent Serra, eighth-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber versus his compatriot Berrer and Tipsarevic against Czech Radek Stepanek. Mathieu was the Moscow titlist in 2002.