The quarterfinals are set for Friday in Metz, France at the Moselle Open. Six of the eight seeded players remain in contention for the title with only seventh seed Adrian Mannarino and eighth seed Fernando Verdasco out of the tournament.

Seeds Survive Tough Tests
Several seeded players in Metz held their spots in the draw on Thursday. Top seed Stan Wawrinka received a stiff test from Dustin Brown. The Swiss survived with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) win. The Swiss struggled a bit on serve to open as Brown won eight of 18 points off Wawrinka's first serve and broke him in the fifth game. Brown would save a trio of break points in the next game and then skate to the opening set win. Wawrinka upped his serve in the second, winning 84 percent of the first serve points and breaking Brown on the one opportunity he would see. The final set was tense throughout with Brown seemingly feeling the most pressure. He gave out seven break opportunities, but managed to save all of them to set up a tie break. Brown scored the mini break early and had a 3-1 lead in the breaker, but the Swiss stormed back to take six of the last seven points to complete the win.

Earlier in the day, it was sixth seed Martin Klizan with a tight win over Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 7-6 (7). Klizan was efficient on serve, allowing just one break opportunity to the Canadian. He was able to save that one chance. Pospisil matched Klizan pretty evenly overall, but was broken once on five break points that would net Klizan that first set. Pospisil actually won more points than Klizan for the match, 73 to 72. The fourth seed, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, was able to rally from a set down against French wild card Pierre Hugues-Herbert. Herbert took the first set 6-2, eating up the Spaniard's weak second serve for eight points on 12 second serves. The tables were flipped in the next two sets with the Frenchman winning just seven of 18 points on his second serve and struggling for consistency. Garcia-Lopez parlayed that into a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory. After being broken once in the first set, he did not allow a single break point over the rest of the match as a key ingredient to scoring the win.

More Frenchmen Advance To Quarterfinals
Third seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had already booked a spot in the quarterfinals on Wednesday to help keep the French hopes alive for a title this week. Joining him in the quarterfinals on Thursday were Nicolas Mahut and Gilles Simon. Mahut battled his countryman and seventh seed, Adrian Mannarino, for a three-set win; 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3. Mahut was stout on serve, dishing out 24 aces without being broken on serve. For the unseeded Mahut, this is his third trip to the quarterfinals at the Moselle Open since 2011. His best showing was a semifinal loss to Simon in 2013.

The final match of the day on Court Central featured second seed Gilles Simon against French qualifier Eduoard Roger-Vasselin. Simon cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 win. Simon was down a break momentarily in the second set at 2-1, but reeled off the final five games to secure the victory. The second seed did struggle with his serve a bit despite the win. He won only 61 percent of his first serve points, but won 15 of 20 points on his second serve. He took four of six break chances from Roger-Vasselin and pounded his second serve, winning 16 of 24 points.

Friday's Schedule
The quarterfinal round starts in Metz with fourth seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez taking on sixth seed Martin Klizan. That match is followed by second seed Gilles Simon versus Gilles Muller. The night session features third seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga battling Nicolas Mahut and then top seed Stan Wawrinka against fifth seed Phillip Kohlschreiber.