Simon, Verdasco knocked out in Buenos Aires

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Seeded players Gilles Simon of France, Fernando Verdasco of Spain and local favorite Juan Monaco were knocked out in the second round of the Copa Claro on Thursday.

Carlos Berlocq of Argentina beat the third-seeded Simon 6-2, 6-1, and Igor Andreev of Russia downed No. 7 seed Verdasco 7-6 (3), 6-3 at the clay-court tournament.

Argentina's David Nalbandian defeated No. 5 Monaco 6-3, 6-1.

One seeded player survived: No. 2 Nicolas Almagro of Spain had an easy time beating Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-3, 6-2.

Nobody was better on clay on Thursday than the former Wimbledon finalist Nalbandian, who made few errors.

"I played a great match with lots of intensity from the start,'' Nalbandian said. "Unfortunately, I don't think Juan had his best day. This is a tournament that all Argentines like to play.''

Nalbandian will face fellow Argentine Berlocq in Friday's quarterfinals. In other quarterfinal matchups it will be top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain against Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, and No. 4 Kei Nishikori of Japan facing No. 6 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.

Andreev will face Almagro.