Both No. 2 seed
Tim Henman (d. (Q) Moodie in three) and No. 4
David Nalbandian (d. Spadea) strengthened their Masters Cup qualification hopes Thursday with second-round wins at the ATP stop in Basel.
"It was a long match," Henman said. "Physically it looked like I was in better shape than him. He looked like he was struggling."
Other seeds into the quarterfinals were No. 6 Rainer "Shine" Schuettler (d. (WC) Chiudinelli) and No. 7 Nicolas "The Golden Child" Massu (d. Zabaleta), in addition to un-seeds Stefan "Tony" Koubek (d. (3) Gaudio in three), Croat
Ivan Ljubicic (d. (Q) Haehnel in three), and Czech lucky loser Bohdan "I Didn't Do It" Ulihrach (d. (WC) Ivo "I Dated Hingis" Heuberger).
Friday's QF match-ups are Ljubicic vs. Koubek (career series tied 2-2), (LL) Ulihrach vs. (7) Massu (tied 1-1), Novak vs. (2) Henman (tied 2-2), and (4) Nalbandian vs. (6) Schuettler (Argentine leads 4-3).
