Haas pulls out in Duesseldorf

May 23, 2013 - 2:52 PM Duesseldorf, Germany (Sports Network) - Veteran German favorite Tommy Haas decided against playing his quarterfinal match Thursday at the $530,000 Power Horse Cup, a final French Open tune-up.

The second-seeded 35-year-old recent Munich champion Haas was scheduled to meet sixth-seeded Finnish fellow vet Jarkko Nieminen when the German pulled out due to a cold.

In round-of-eight action involving seeds, No. 3 Juan Monaco of Argentina handled German Tobias Kamke 6-3, 6-4 and upstart Argentine qualifier Guido Pella knocked out No. 7 Viktor Troicki of Serbia 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 on the red clay on a chilly day at Rochusclub, which used to play host to the ATP World Team tournament.

"It wasn't easy to play, as it was very cold," said Monaco. "I am happy to have reached the semifinals and I will have a difficult match against a baseliner tomorrow."

Monaco is now fifth among active ATP players with a 188-104 clay-court match win-loss record.

One other quarterfinal saw Dutchman Igor Sijsling drub Czech Jan Hajek 6-3, 6-1.

Friday's semifinals will pit Monaco against his 101st-ranked compatriot Pella and Nieminen versus Sijsling.

This week's winner will collect $95,000.