Bangkok, Thailand (Sports Network) - Second seed Richard Gasquet, third-
seeded Milos Raonic and former champion Gilles Simon were a trio of second-
round winners Thursday at the $551,000 Thailand Open tennis event.
The French Gasquet had to come from behind to stave off promising Bulgarian
Grigor Dimitrov 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in 2 hours, 15 minutes on Day 4. Dimitrov
blasted 21 aces in a losing effort.
The Canadian slugger Raonic got past 6-foot-10 fellow massive server Ivo
Karlovic, of Croatia, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, while the fourth-seeded French Simon
subdued Japan's Go Soeda 6-4, 6-4 on the hardcourts at Impact Arena. Raonic
fired 14 aces past Karlovic, who popped nine in a losing cause.
Simon was the 2009 Bangkok titlist.
Meanwhile, fifth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco dismissed last year's
runner-up Donald Young of the United States 7-5, 6-4, on-the-mend Frenchman
Gael Monfils upended sixth-seeded Serb Viktor Troicki 7-5, 7-5, and eighth-
seeded Aussie Bernard Tomic overcame Israeli veteran Dudi Sela 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Young lost to Andy Murray in last year's Bangkok finale. Troicki was
the '09 runner-up here to Simon.
Friday's quarterfinals will pit top-seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic versus
Verdasco; Gasquet against Tomic; Raonic versus seventh-seeded Finn Jarkko
Nieminen; and Simon against his fellow Frenchman Monfils. Nieminen was a
Bangkok runner-up two years ago.
The 2012 winner of this $551,000 tournament will collect $99,465.
The Sports Network