Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel—Switzerland

No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic dismantled Jan Henrych on Thursday, defeating his Czech opponent 6-0, 6-0.

Serving up his first double bagel of the season, Djokovic won 78 percent of his first serve points, while converting on six of nine break point opportunities.

By contrast, Henrych, who was attempting to capture his 11th victory of the year, failed to capitalize on his three break point chances, while winning a miserable 38 percent of his first serve points.

The 52-minute affair featured Djokovic blazing through both his serve and return games. Using his full repertoire of shots, which included his backhand down the line, backhand drop shot, and forehand crosscourt, Djokovic convincingly gained his Tour-leading 67th win of the season, while advancing to his 18th quarterfinal of the year.

Djokovic alluded to the disastrous form of his opponent after the match.

“To win against somebody double bagel, an opponent has to play really, really bad,” Djokovic said. “He didn’t put a lot of effort in.

“It’s funny at the end with the crowd wanting him to win a game. It’s easy to understand that,” Djokovic added.

With the victory, Djokovic will next face either No. 6 seed Stanislas Wawrinka or Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen.

Elsewhere, hometown hopeful Marco Chiudinelli progressed to his second quarterfinal of the season (Bangkok, China), defeating countryman and qualifier Michael Lammer, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Chiudinelli, who has raised his ranking to No. 73 in the world (two spots shy of his career high of No. 71), held his nerve while converting on three of six break point opportunities in the second and third sets to oust his No. 167-ranked opponent.

Lammer, who began strong in the first set, broke Chiudinelli on two of seven break point opportunities, while winning 70 percent of his second serve points. Aided by his strong right-handed forehand, Lammer failed to continue his fortunes of the first set, falling to 0-5 on the year.

Chiudinelli, who improved to 9-11 on the season, will next take on either John Isner or Richard Gasquet.

Isner upset London hopeful No. 3 seed Fernando Gonzalez on Wednesday and currently leads Gasquet by a set and on serve in their second round contest.

Frenchman Jeremy Chardy couldn't follow up his hard-fought win over American James Blake on Wednesday, crashing out in second round action to Russian Evgeny Korolev.

Korolev, who defeated his French opponent 6-4, 7-6 (1), reached his fifth quarterfinal of season on the strength of eight aces and two breaks of serve.

By contrast, Chardy did his part to remain close in the encounter, winning 93 percent of his first serve points (26-28), while hammering 12 aces.

Korolev will next face top seed Roger Federer, who defeated Andreas Seppi for the sixth straight time on Wednesday in straight sets.

Federer and Korolev have met on one occasion on the ATP World Tour, with the Swiss disposing his Russian opponent in comfortable fashion earlier this year at the Australian Open.

The final match of the day will pit No. 4 seed Marin Cilic, who needs to win in Basel this week to ensure a realistic chance of qualifying for London, against hard-hitting Serbian Viktor Troicki.

Cilic, who is in the hunt for his fifth final of the season (currently holding a 2-2 record), leads his Serbian opponent 3-0 in head-to-head meetings.

Cilic remains 870 points behind No. 8-ranked Fernando Verdasco for the final spot in the London finale.

Valencia Open 500—Spain

No. 2 seed Nikolay Davydenko kept his quest for qualifying for the season-ending championships in full tilt on Thursday, routinely defeating Juan Monaco 6-3, 7-5.

Davydenko, who remains in the top five of three of the four major returning categories, broke his Argentine opponent on four of nine opportunities, while holding Monaco to a mere 38 percent of second serve points won. 

Monaco, whose serve resides as one of the weakest on Tour, kept his spirits in check during the second set, breaking Davydenko on two occasions, while dictating a majority of the rallies with a rock-solid backhand. 

However, as the match grew towards the latter stages of the set, Davydenko gained a crucial break conversion at 5-5 to serve out the match after one hour and 42 minutes.

The win for Davydenko improved the Russian's year-to-date record to 51-14, while the loss for Monaco, who was in search of his seventh hard court victory of the season, drops his record to 35-25 on the year.

Davydenko will next face Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who upended No. 6 seed Gael Monfils in straight sets on Wednesday.

Monfils' hopes of qualifying for the season finale in London were substantially diffused by his second round defeat to his Spanish opponent. Monfils will now head to the Paris Masters 1000 next week to finish out his season.

Davydenko leads Garcia-Lopez 1-0 in the pair's head-to-head meetings.

Local icon Fernando Verdasco, who like Davydenko remains one of the two realistic candidates to qualify for the London finale, increased his charge to the elite eight group by defeating in-form Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-3.

Tipsarevic, who recently finished a runner-up in Moscow, Russia, squandered five of six break point opportunities throughout the one hour and 22 minute affair, capitalizing on his lone break of serve in the second set.

Verdasco, who has appeared confident as the week has progressed, dazzled his home country fans with an array of blistering forehands, while striking four aces.

Verdasco's incredible form this season has seen the Madrid native reach the quarterfinal stage of 14 Tour events.

Verdasco's 50th win of the year will take the No. 4 seed into a final eight clash against his Davis Cup doubles partner Tommy Robredo.

Robredo fought off a stern challenge from good friend Feliciano Lopez, defeating the recent Shanghai semifinalist, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Verdasco and Robredo have met on seven occasions on the ATP World Tour, with Robredo leading the pair's head-to-head 4-3. Verdasco managed to win the pair's previous encounter at the Paris Masters 1000 in 2008. Verdasco holds a slight 2-1 hard court lead over Robredo.

The Spanish fortunes of Verdasco and Robredo did not continue for No. 8 seed David Ferrer.

Slated to face countryman Albert Montanes, Ferrer withdrew before the match took place with a hamstring injury. The withdrawal was particularly disappointing for Ferrer, who lives close by to the Valencia event.

As a result of Ferrer's misfortune, Montanes advanced to the quarterfinals, where he will face either top seed Andy Murray or up-and-coming Argentine Leonardo Mayer.

Murray, who will join the Adidas team at the start of 2010 (replacing his currently clothing contract with Fred Perry), currently leads Mayer one set to love.

Saving three set points in the opening set, Mayer saved four of five break point opportunities against his higher-ranked opponent.

After a drawn-out rally on Murray's fourth set point, Mayer overhit a routine drop shot to trail one set to love.

The Scot, who seems conflicted on court, is returning to action for the first time since losing in the fourth round of the US Open to Marin Cilic. The world No. 4 has been nursing a left wrist injury, which he hopes will subside for the remainder of the season.

The final result of the day saw recent Moscow winner Mikhail Youzhny capture his 14th victory in the past month, defeating Pablo Cuevas 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.

The fiery Russian won 70 percent of his total service points, while breaking the serve of Cuevas on eight occasions.

Cuevas, who defeated Valencia native Juan Carlos Ferrero on Tuesday, fell to 19-14 on the season.

With the win, Youzhny will now face No. 5 seed Gilles Simon for a place in the semifinals.

Simon, who is another player vying for a spot in the Tour finale in London, defeated Tomas Berdych in three sets on Wednesday.

Youzhny leads Simon 4-0 in the pair's head-to-head meetings, defeating the Frenchman on two occasions this season.

Please check back on Friday for a quarterfinal wrap-up from Basel and Valencia.