Top seed Berdych breezes into last eight

Lopez and Sijsling also make it through

Top seed Tomas Berdych comfortably defeated Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 6-3 in his opening match at the Thailand Open yesterday.

The world No.6 Czech, who became the tournament’s top-ranked player after Wimbledon champion Andy Murray’s withdrawal, had a light workout against the Spaniard in a second-round match at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani.

In the quarter-finals, Berdych will meet compatriot Lukas Rosol or Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun. He last competed in Bangkok in 2008, losing to Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.

‘‘I faced some tough moments, but I reacted well,’’ Berdych said. ‘‘It was a long trip down here but I felt good in the match, I’ve had good practice and I’m ready to play.’’

Berdych drew a time violation trailing 0-40 on serve in the third game of the second set after the ballgirls appeared not to be quick enough.

But he got out of trouble in the game to hold and said it didn’t take much to re-establish his rhythm.

‘‘You cannot blame the ballgirls, they are trying their best. But sometimes it can be a matter of seconds,’’ said the Czech.

Spain’s sixth seed Feliciano Lopez and Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands also reached the quarter-finals.

Lopez had few problems in his 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 win over Japan’s Go Soeda in the second round but Sijsling needed three sets to see off compatriot Robin Haase 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).

It was world No.75 Sijsling’s second win this year against No.60 Haase following a two-hour and 15-minute encounter.

After dropping the first set, Sijsling stormed back, taking the second set 6-4 and comfortably won 7-2 in the deciding tiebreaker.

Haase appeared frustrated during the final stages, often yelling out loud and looking to his coach.

Sijsling, who recently won his first ATP doubles title with Edouard RogerVasselin at Umeg, will next play for only his second semi-final berth on the tour.

Bangkok debutant Sijsling said: ‘‘It went well but it was a very tough match and we both played well. He got a bit defensive and tried to make the points longer, physically it was tough.

‘‘I tried to play attacking tennis and it worked for me. I got to the net more and I think that helped in the end.’’

In the first round, Russian fifth seed Mikhail Youzhny struck six aces and saved all three break points in a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Italian Paolo Lorenzi.

Making his tournament debut, Youzhny will next play Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin, winner over South Korea’s Jeong Suk-Young 6-3, 6-0.

Youzhny, 31, is one of 14 over-30 winners on the ATP this season. He now stands 33-20 in 2013.

Youzhny said: ‘‘I got sick last night and I am not feeling so well at the moment. I had to ask for a late start today because I needed the doctor to give me a shot.’’

Taiwan’s Lu moved into the second round after defeating another Russian, Evgeny Donskoy, 6-3, 6-2.

Lu will next play eighth seeded Rosol in the second round.

In the doubles event, Thailand’s Danai Udomchoke and Lu began their title defence by beating Rosol and Sijsling 7-6 (7/3), 5-7, 10-1.

The tournament ends on Sunday.