Feliciano Lopez eases into the quarter-finals (photo: sports mole)

Led by top seed Feliciano Lopez, four seeds advanced to the quarterfinals of the US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston on Wednesday.

Lopez, who accepted a wildcard to enter the tournament, made light work of big-serving Australian Sam Groth by pulling off a 6-3 6-3 victory in just over an hour.

Reflecting on his win, Lopez appeared fairly contented. “I’m very pleased to be here again,” he told ATP World Tour.

“I need a few more matches to start moving better and hitting the ball cleaner, but it was very difficult because he was serving huge. I think I did quite good overall.”

Moving on, he is scheduled to cross the swords with 8^th-seeded American Sam Querrey, who took care of his business, beating compatriot Steve Johnson 6-1 4-6 6-0 in the other outing.

3^rd seed Kevin Anderson also progressed to the last-eight stage after clinching a 6-7 6-0 6-3 conquest of 72^nd-ranked Argentine Federico Delbonis.

France’s Jeremy Chardy, the No. 3 seed, had an ordinary day in the office, defeating Japanese journeyman Go Soeda 6-3 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals.