Top seed Roberto Bautista Agut raised his game when it mattered to beat Brazil's Rogerio Dutra Silva in the second round of the St Petersburg Open on Thursday.
Bautista Agut, who received a bye in the opening round, lost just four points in the final set in a 6-4 4-6 6-0 victory to set up a quarter-final with seventh seed Viktor Troicki.
Bautista Agut is priced up at 2/7 by Sky Bet to beat Troicki, who can be backed at 11/4.
Troicki also needed three sets to beat Argentina's Guido Pella, while third seed Fabio Fognini ended home involvement in the event by beating Russia's Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 4-6 6-4.
Fognini now faces Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, who was handed a walkover when opponent Philipp Kohlschreiber withdrew due to illness before their match.
Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff beat Brazil's Thomas Fabbiano 6-1 6-4 and next faces second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who fired 16 aces in a three-set win over Portugal's Joao Sousa.
In Metz, second seed David Goffin recovered from a set down to reach the quarter-finals of the Moselle Open with a 3-6 6-3 6-3 victory over Spain's Nicolas Almagro.
Third seed Lucas Pouille and fourth seed Gilles Muller were not so fortunate however, Pouille losing two tie-breaks to Romania's Marius Copil and Muller beaten 6-4 6-4 by Nikoloz Basilashvili.
France's Kenny de Schepper, a lucky loser from qualifying, saw off compatriot Nicolas Mahut 6-4 7-5, while another Frenchman, Benoit Paire, lost just three games in beating Marcel Granollers.
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