Defending champion Simon advances, while No. 3 Almagro and No. 4 Mathieu fall in Romania

Defending BCR Open Romania champion and No. 2 seed Gilles Simon (pictured), as well as No. 6 seed Carlos Moya, continued their winning ways on Wednesday with easy victories to earn them spots in the quarterfinals.

Simon, who is having a career best year that includes titles at Indianapolis and Casablanca (Morocco) and a victory over Roger Federer in Canada , breezed to a 6-3, 6-4, victory over Spaniard Albert Montanes. Simon smashed 8 aces without hitting a double fault, while winning 79 percent of his first serve points and 61 percent on second serve points. The 23-year-old Frenchman reached a career high ranking of No. 13 on August 4th and currently ranks No. 17 after a third round performance at the US Open in New York. Simon next meets compatriot Florent Serra in the quarterfinals, who was victorious in three tight sets against Potito Starace. Simon leads the head-to-head series 2-1, with their only clay court meeting occurring in Casablanca early this year, with Simon winning, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 en route to the title.

No. 6 seed Moya won in convincing fashion this afternoon with a 6-3, 7-6(6), win over Spanish qualifier Pablo Andujar. A quarterfinalist at the Masters Series Hamburg and Cincinnati, as well as a runner-up result in Costa do Sauipe (Brazil), the 1998 French Open champion earned his 22nd victory of the season. Currently ranked No. 61 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, Moya was able to capitalize on Andujar’s 5 double faults and break serve on 2 occasions in the roughly hour and a half long match. For the third straight match in Bucharest, Moya will play a fellow Spaniard, as he will take on Guillermo Garcia-Lopez for a spot in the semifinals. Garcia-Lopez stunned No. 3 seed Almagro, 6-4, 7-5.

The first round match between No. 4 seed Paul-Henri Mathieu and Ivan Navarro was completed early Wednesday after it was postponed due to bad lighting on Tuesday. Navarro shocked the Frenchman, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3, for his 6th win of the season. Playing majority of his tournaments in Challenger level events, Navarro looks to make just his second ATP level quarterfinal of the year, Newport (Rhode Island) being his only quarterfinal appearance in 2008. German Denis Gremelmayr will be the young Spaniard’s next opponent.