Gaudio reaches quarter-finals in Swiss defence

GSTAAD, Switzerland, July 13 (Reuters) Defending champion Gaston Gaudio overcame more bad weather and an improving opponent to book a place in the quarter-finals of the 421,250 euro (535,600 dollar) Swiss Open today.

The Argentine second seed overcame Belgium's Christophe Rochus 6-0, 6-4 in a match originally due to take place yesterday but postponed because of persistent rain in the Swiss Alps.

After a commanding performance in the opening set, Gaudio took the next two games before Rochus broke back to 3-3 and rain again interrupted play.

''I think the rain break helped me because I was pretty nervous at that point that he might break my serve again,'' the 2004 French Open champion said after returning to the court to wrap up victory with a further decisive break.

''It rains every time I come here so I guess I'm used to it.'' Dubbed ''the Wimbledon of the Alps'' by local organisers, the Gstaad tournament has this week more than matched Wimbledon's reputation for unseasonally bad weather.

Following Gaudio's victory, the rain clouds returned to force further scheduling headaches.

Three second round matches will have to be completed tomorrow, including Croatian top seed Ivan Ljubicic's twice-delayed encounter with Swiss wild card entry Marco Chiudinelli.

In the little play that was possible earlier today, seventh seed Richard Gasquet of France sailed into the last eight with a 6-1 6-1 demolition of Czech Robin Vik.

Belarusian Eighth seed Max Mirnyi made an early exit, however, losing 6-2 6-4 to Romania's Andrei Pavel.

REUTERS KD HS2240