Gasquet advances to Kremlin quarters

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Top seed Richard Gasquet, making his debut in Moscow, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Evgeny Donskoy of Russia on Thursday.
Gasquet, who suffered an early exit at Shanghai last week and dropped to 10th in the rankings, hampering his chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals in London next month, was pushed hard by the unheralded Russian. Gasquet broke twice in the first set, but Donskoy won the second with a break midway through. Gasquet won five consecutive games in the decider and closed the match on his second match point.
Gasquet is chasing fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the eighth and final spot in London.
Earlier, veteran Ivo Karlovic landed 16 aces to eliminate fifth-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-3, 6-7 (10), 7-6 (6), while qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan defeated fourth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4.