Busta, Almagro advance to Estoril Open quarterfinals

Nicolas Almagro. (Ng Han Guan/AP)

ESTORIL, Portugal — Eighth-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain reached his fourth clay-court quarterfinal of the year when he defeated Taro Daniel of Japan 6-4, 7-5 in the Estoril Open on Thursday.

Busta broke Daniel five times. He was runner-up in Sao Paulo this year, and is still chasing his first ATP title.

Busta will face either top-seeded Gilles Simon or Paul-Henri Mathieu, who played the all-French match late Thursday.

Also, Nicolas Almagro of Spain, the Buenos Aires finalist in February rallied to defeat fourth-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 behind 13 aces.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.