Andreev into last eight at French Open

PARIS: Unseeded Russian Igor Andreev reached the quarter-finals of the French Open on Monday by defeating Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.   

Ranked 125th in the world, Andreev's win made him the lowest-ranked player to reach the last eight in Paris since Marcelo Filippini in 1999 and he will next take on sixth seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia for a place in the semi-finals.   

He opened strongly against last year's Australian Open runner-up, breaking serve in the first game, but Baghdatis hit back by breaking the Russian's serve three times in succession to lift the first set 6-2.   

The 23-year-old Russian, who slumped down the rankings after knee surgery that kept him on the sidelines for six months, dominated the second set again breaking the Baghdatis serve almost at will in the first, fifth and seventh games to level the set scores.   

He then eased ahead in the third overpowering his smaller opponent with big serves and a huge top-spin forehand.   

Baghdatis bravely tried to stay the pace set by the Russian as games went with serve until 2-2 in the third set.   

But he was pinned-back once again yards behind his baseline in the following game pounded by the Rusian's forehand and Andreev promptly grabbed the vital break of serve he needed to score the biggest win of his career to date.   

Andreev is the second Russian into the quarter-finals after Nikolay Davydenko who will play Guillermo Canas for a place in the semi-finals on Tuesday.