Sweden's Joachim Johansson continued his impressive rise and moved through to the quarterfinals of the Kroger St. Jude in Memphis with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over James Blake.

It was Johansson's second win over Blake in as many weeks, having also overpowered the American in San Jose. While Blake was hoping to gain his revenge in Memphis, the 2002 finalist could do nothing to stop the 6'6" 21-year-old, who made 100 percent of his first serves in the opening set (18 of 18) and was 78 percent for the match overall.

"I served well, returned well and tried to hit the ball pretty hard," said Johansson. "I went in with the same attitude as last week and it worked this week as well. First set I didn't miss one serve, so obviously I served pretty well. Second set wasn't so good, but my forehand worked pretty well and I tried to be aggressive. I missed a few returns on his second serve, but apart from that, I think I played pretty well."

Debut

Johansson, making his debut in Memphis, also fired 17 aces throughout the 46-minute match to set up a quarterfinal meeting against Belgian Xavier Malisse.

Malisse, who reached the semifinals in Memphis in 2002 (l. to Roddick), avenged his first round loss to Cyril Saulnier at Wimbledon last year by defeating the Frenchman 7-6(4), 6-2.

Johansson's fellow Swede Thomas Enqvist continued his welcome return to form as he defeated German Alexander Popp to reach his fifth consecutive quarterfinal in Memphis. The 29-year-old, playing in the tournament for the first time since 1998 and looking to reach his first semifinal, came through 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 against Popp to set up a potential meeting with top seed Andy Roddick.

"I've been playing so well here, every time I come here," said Enqvist. "I love these courts but I've never passed the quarterfinals, so now it's time.

"It's another perfect opportunity for me to get that kind of match. It's exactly what I need at the moment. If I play Roddick it will be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to it."

Second seed Mardy Fish got off to another slow start before overcoming Nashville-based Canadian qualifier Frederic Niemeyer.

Fish, who dropped the first set of his opening match against Olivier Mutis on Wednesday, did the same against Niemeyer, who took the first set 6-1 in just 28 minutes. Fish, who reached the final last week in San Jose (l. to Roddick), then found his game and broke to lead 3-1 in the second and, after leveling the match at one set all, got a double break in the third to lead 4-1.

Fight

But Niemeyer, who defeated Lars Burgsmuller in the first round, refused to go down without a fight and took four games in a row to lead 5-4. At 5-5, Fish produced three great shots and forced Niemeyer - who had hit 29 aces - into his 10th double fault on break point before the American held to love to clinch victory in 1 hour, 46 minutes.

"I just kept telling myself to get through and stay in the tournament," said Fish. "It's a great opportunity with everybody out, including James losing today. It stinks that they all lost but another part says I still have to do my business, so again, it's just one of those matches where you try and get through."

Fish now meets 2001 quarterfinalist Dmitry Tursunov, the 21-year-old Russian who recorded an impressive 6-4,6-0 victory over No. 7 seed Wayne Ferreira. Tursunov, who was 0-3 on the ATP circuit in 2004, won the Challenger title in Waikoloa earlier this year.

Elsewhere, Jan-Michael Gambill followed up his first round victory over defending champion Taylor Dent with a 6-3,6-4 victory over wild card Brian Baker, while No. 8 seed Nicolas Kiefer survived a three-set marathon against Jurgen Melzer. Kiefer needed 2 hours, 36 minutes before winning 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal clash with Gambill.