Sebastien Grosjean and Juan Carlos Ferrero are both through to the quarter-finals the UBS Swiss Open in Gstaad.

Third seed Grosjean, who reached the semi-finals of the Australian and French Opens, was pushed all the way by Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentii before triumphing 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7/2).

The Frenchman is relishing playing in the rarefied Alpine conditions in Switzerland.

He said: "This is normal for me. I grew up in the mountains. But it still takes some effort to switch your game over to this clay after playing on the grass at Wimbledon."

Grosjean lost the first set 4-6 to the young Ecuadorian, a finalist in 1999, but fought back to take the second. They were inseparable until the third-round tie-break, where Grosjean forged ahead.

Grosjean will meet sixth seed Franco Squillari of Argentina in the quarter-finals.

Ferrero focussed

Squillari also had to fight back from a set down in his match against Alberto Martin of Spain, but he had an easier third set, finally winning 4-6 6-4 6-2.

There was another Spanish defeat as France's Cedric Pioline defeated Francisco Clavet 7-6 (7/5) 6-7 (7/5) 6-1

The only player to take a straight sets victory on Wednesday was second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, who defeated France's Julien Boutter 7-6 (7/2) 6-2.

Ferrero, who plays Pioline next, has already performed better than he did in Gstaad last year, when he was put out in the first round by Gaston Gaudio.

The Spaniard is seeking his fifth title this year.

He said: "My goal here is to win the tournament, but I have to go step by step."