Gasquet tumbles Gaudio in Gstaad

GSTAAD, Switzerland, July 14 (Reuters) Defending champion Gaston Gaudio suffered a quarter-final exit at the Swiss Open today, losing 6-3 6-2 to 20-year-old Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

The Argentine second seed slumped at the end of the first set and the start of the second, losing five games in a row.

Gasquet completed his victory over the 2004 French Open champion with an ace to set up a semi-final encounter with Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Kohlschreiber, currently 72nd in the world, booked his place in the last four with a surprise 6-3 4-6 6-4 win over Spanish third seed Fernando Verdasco.

Top seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia also had to work hard to avoid a second round defeat at the hands of Swiss wildcard Marco Chiudinelli.

Playing an opponent ranked 337 places beneath him, the world number four lost the opening set on a tiebreak before eventually coming through 6-7 6-3 6-2.

Heavy rain has disrupted the schedule over the past two days and Ljubicic is due back on court later on Friday for his quarter-final against Spanish sixth seed Feliciano Lopez.

Lopez completed a 6-7 6-3 7-6 win over fellow Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hildalgo after the match had been held over.

REUTERS SY HS2113