Richard needed little more than an hour to defeat the Romanian Victor Crivoi 6-3 6-2.
After a very shaky start, when even Crivoi's gift of an entrance break could not inspire Richard, he decided to play tennis from 3-3 onwards. Crivoi committed far too many errors, while Richard improved and sailed to a comfortable 6-3 6-2 victory. His quarterfinal opponent will be either the Romanian qualifier Cruciat or the Russian Gabashvili. Richard has played neither of them before.