Mayer ousts Blake at Moselle Open

METZ, France — Fourth-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany advanced to the quarterfinals of the Moselle Open Wednesday after beating James Blake 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4.

Mayer broke the American in the ninth game of the decider and served out for the victory. He next meets fifth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy or Frenchman Vincent Millot. Seppi reached the second round with a 6-7 (7), 6-3, 6-4 win against Ivan Dodig of Croatia in a scrappy match which saw 14 breaks of serve overall.

In remaining first-round matches, American player Jesse Levine beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 6-3, 6-2, and Michael Berrer of Germany advanced when Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic retired while trailing 6-4, 2-0.

Denis Istomin falls

Second-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan was eliminated in the first round of the St. Petersburg Open, losing to Lukasz Kubot of Poland 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 Wednesday.

Eight-seeded Jurgen Zopp of Estonia advanced to the second round when Russian qualifier Andrey Kumantsov, trailing 6-3, 5-3, retired because of dizziness.

Igor Andreev of Russia, who was scheduled to face Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine, withdrew because of a right shoulder injury.

Stakhovsky then beat Russian lucky loser Ivan Nedelko 7-6 (2), 6-2, while Ricardas Berankic of Lithuania led 6-2, 3-3 when Philipp Petzschner of Germany retired with a right knee injury.

Robson eliminates Zheng

In Guangzhou, Laura Robson of Britain disposed of second-seeded Zheng Jie of China 6-3, 6-3 as the other remaining seeds breezed into the quarterfinals of the Guangzhou Open Wednesday.

The result showed Robson’s confidence, after making the fourth round of the US Open and winning an Olympic silver in mixed doubles.

In other matches, defending champion and fifth seed Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa completed a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia, while Urszula Radwanska of Poland defeated Mandy Minella of Luxembourg 6-2, 6-3. Among the others to advance were third-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania, No. 7 Peng Shuai of China and No. 8 Alize Cornet of France.

Kirilenko withdraws

In Seoul, a back injury forced Maria Kirilenko of Russia to withdraw from a second-round match of the Korea Open Wednesday.

Organizers said Kirilenko complained of back pain during a match with South Korean player Lee So-ra. Nadia Petrova of Russia defeated Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain 6-2, 6-4 in her opener, while Kaia Kanepi of Estonia beat Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-2, to reach the quarterfinals.

Zvonareva, Pennetta pull out

Last year’s runner-up Vera Zvonareva of Russia and Flavia Pennetta of Italy pulled out of the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament that gets under way this weekend, organizers said Wednesday.

Zvonareva, who captured her second Grand Slam doubles title at the Australian Open in January, is suffering from a viral disease, while Pennetta has a right wrist injury, the organizers said.

Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada and Vania King of the US moved up to the main draw, they said.

The tournament will be led by world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova of Russia.

Federer could play Berdych

The first round of the 2013 Davis Cup could feature a matchup between Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych, the man who beat him in the quarterfinals of the US Open two weeks ago.

Switzerland was paired against the Czech Republic in Wednesday’s draw for the opening round of the World Group, setting up a potential head-to-head between two of the top players in the game.

The top-ranked Federer has a career 11-5 record against Berdych, but the No. 6 Czech defeated him in four sets at the US Open. Berdych also beat Federer in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2010 and at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Switzerland will be at home for the Feb. 1-3 series. Federer does not always play in the early rounds of the Davis Cup, and his plans for 2013 are uncertain. In other matches, Spain will travel to Canada, the United States will be at home against Brazil, and Argentina will host Germany.

It’s also France vs. Israel, Kazakhstan vs. Austria, Italy vs. Croatia and Belgium vs. Serbia. — Agencies