Haas advances to quarters at the TD Waterhouse Cup

Defending champion Tommy Haas overcame a sluggish start to defeat Agustin Calleri 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 on Thursday to advance to the quarter-finals of the TD Waterhouse Cup.

The top-seeded German, who is nursing a sore shoulder, had to rally from being a set down for the second consecutive match but he eventually wore down the 16th-seeded Argentinean in the final two sets.

"He hits the ball hard and goes for it -- he's not a typical clay court player," Haas said of Calleri.

"It's always tough to come back after losing the first set and it was important for me to get those early breaks in the second and third sets to jump on him.

"I tried to serve and volley and come in more."

Despite the victory Haas's shoulder was clearly bothering him once again.

"There were moments when my arm [forearm and elbow] would be hurting but then it would go away for a while.

"When I serve sometimes I can really feel it -- it could be just that I make a bad move," he said.

In other third round action, fifth-seeded Alex Corretja of Spain had to battle for nearly three hours before finally getting the better of Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

"It's great to battle hard and come back to win -- it's the best preparation for the (U.S.) Open," Corretja said.

"Hopefully I can keep going and be ready for the Open."

Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco, the number four seed, easily trounced 14th-seeded Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-0, 6-2 to also advance to the last eight.

Seventh seed Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina also advanced with a 7-5, 7-6 victory over American Jan-Michael Gambill.

Meanwhile, the match between number 11 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland and Brazil's Flavio Saretta was postponed by rain with Saretta leading 3-1 in the first set.

It will be concluded on Friday morning.

American Mardy Fish also moved on with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Chilean Nicolas Massu as Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand won the eighth match of his past nine outings with a 6-4, 6-1 triumph over Czech Bohdan Ulihrach.

Paul-Henri Mathieu of France, who knocked Pete Sampras out of the tournament earlier this week, continued his winning streak with a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 victory over Spain's Alberto Martin