Haas battles back

Germany's Tommy Haas, the second seed and defending champion, came from a set down to win his opening match at the $416,000 Delray Beach International on Wednesday.

Haas, who had a fine run to the semi-finals of the Australian Open last week, recovered from a sluggish start to beat Taiwan's Lu Yen-hson 2-6 6-4 6-3.

Fellow German Florian Mayer and Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez booked their places in the quarter-finals by winning their second successive matches in the ATP's new round-robin tournament format.

Fifth seed Mayer ended the hopes of Romania's Andre Pavel 6-3 3-6 6-2 while seventh-seeded Garcia-Lopez overcame Kristian Pless of Denmark 6-3 7-6.

The 23-year-old Garcia-Lopez, who conquered Andre Agassi in last year's quarter-finals at Delray Beach, was delighted to reach the last eight once again.

"It's fun and comfortable being here," he told reporters after setting up his victory with two breaks of serve. "I played very well today and I am very happy to be in the quarter-finals."

Other winners on Wednesday included Colombia's Alejandro Falla and unseeded Americans Robert Kendrick and Jesse Levine.

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