Soderling, Robredo reach Swedish Open quarters

BASTAD, Sweden (AP) -French Open finalist Robin Soderling routed Kristof Vliegen 6-2, 6-3 to join defending champion Tommy Robredo in the Swedish Open quarterfinals on Wednesday.

The second-seeded Soderling roused a sellout crowd by finishing off Belgium's Vliegen in just 55 minutes on the slow clay in only the second evening match under lights in the tournament's 62-year history.

"I played OK," Soderling said. "The last game was tough. I was a bit lucky. I didn't hit that overhead clean. It's so fun to play here before a sellout crowd and feel the support."

Third-seeded Robredo beat Peter Luczak of Australia 6-2, 6-3 to keep his title defense going, and Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia won his second-round match against Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-3, 6-2.

Robredo is playing in Bastad for the ninth straight year.

Two other Spaniards, Daniel Gimeno-Traver and fifth-seeded Nicolas Almagro, also won in straight sets to reach the second round. Gimeno-Traver ousted Federico Gil of Portugal 6-1, 6-4 and Almagro knocked off two-time major champion Marat Safin of Russia 6-3, 7-6 (6).

Spanish players have won the last four Swedish Opens. Rafael Nadal was the winner in 2005, Robredo won his first title in 2006 and David Ferrer prevailed in 2007.