AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Top-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer and reigning champion John Isner of the United States were a pair of second-round winners Wednesday at the $450,000 Heineken Open, a final Australian Open tune-up.
The gritty Ferrer outlasted German Tobias Kamke 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, while a third-seeded Isner overcame Dutchman Robin Haase 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 on the hardcourts at ASB Tennis Centre. Kamke was the 2010 ATP World Tour Newcomer of the Year.
Ferrer, the 2007 Auckland titlist, will next face another former champion here, 2008 winner Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany. The eighth-seeded Kohlschreiber snuck past Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
Isner's quarterfinal opponent will be sixth-seeded former top-five Argentine star David Nalbandian, who dismissed German Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 6-2 on Day 3.
The 6-foot-9 Isner beat 5-foot-8 Frenchman Arnaud Clement in last year's Auckland finale.
Second-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro defeated Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) and will appear in the quarterfinals of this event for the second time in three years.
Colombian Santiago Giraldo upset fourth-seeded Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Giraldo's next opponent will be seventh-seeded Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, who beat 2007 Auckland runner-up Tommy Robredo 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
The aforementioned Clement, a wild card this week, was handed a 7-5, 6-4 defeat by qualifier and fellow Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, who will meet Almagro here on Thursday.
