THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Wild card Kei Nishikori advanced to the quarter-finals of the Stockholm Open with a 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 victory over Dominik Hrbaty on Thursday. Nishikori will next face second-seeded Mario Ancic, who beat Steve Darcis 7-6 (4), 6-4. Nishikori, who has jumped 212 spots to No. 77 in the rankings since the beginning of the year, was bothered by a sore knee in his opening match against eighth-seeded Marcel Granollers on Monday. "It was better than the first match, he said. "I feel it is 80 per cent healed. I didn't feel much pain during the match." The 18-year-old Nishikori had three break points to 5-4 in the third set when Hrbaty fell behind 0-40, but the Slovak saved them all. In the next game, Hrbaty was only two points from the match at 30-30, but the Japanese teenager eventually held his serve. "I just concentrated on keeping my serve," he said. "I'm glad that I did not go down after failing to break his serve from 0-40. The next game was difficult." Nishikori broke to 6-5 with a forehand winner and then held to love to wrap up the match. "This is the first time I'm winning so constantly and it surprises me," Nishikori said. "Of course I haven't faced anyone from top 10, but it gives me confidence. Now I wish to advance to the semi." Darcis staved off two set points when trailing 15-40 and 5-6 in the opening set. Ancic won the ensuing tiebreaker when the Belgian missed a backhand passing shot attempt. Ancic broke for the first and only time in the match to lead 3-2 when Darcis missed two straight backhands at 30-all. Leading 5-4, the Croat held his serve to love to end the match. Roger Federer of Switzerland withdrew from the tournament last week, leaving seventh-ranked David Nalbandian of Argentina as the top-seeded player. Defending champion Ivo Karlovic of Croatia skipped the tournament.
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