saved six match points but was unable to save himself as he fell to Argentine Herman Gumy in the second round of the Clay Court Championships.

Gumy, winner of the Bermuda Open for the second successive year on Sunday, continued his rich vein of form to reach his first ATP Tour quarter-final since August of 1997 with a 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4) victory over the top seed in two hours and 28 minutes.

Stoltenberg, who has won half of his four career singles titles on Florida clay, fought off triple match point while serving at 5-6, 0-40 in the second set to force a second tiebreaker, but could not turn the tide in his favour.

The Australian's ouster left defending champion Jim Courier as the highest remaining seed.

The fifth-seeded Courier fought off Spaniard Galo Blanco 7-5 6-4 as his title defence gathered steam.

"Today, I had to fight for every point,'' said the former world number one, who is trying to follow his Davis Cup heroics with his first title of the year.

"It feels good to win two tough matches against guys that came in here trying to upset me,'' added Courier, who won a pair of epic five-set matches to lead the United States to an away Davis Cup upset of Britain three weeks ago.

With most of the world's top players competing in Monte Carlo this week, Courier has an excellent chance of picking up his 24th career title here.

Seventh seed Christian Ruud of Norway rallied 1998 Bermuda Open runner up Lucas Arnold 3-6 7-6 6-2 and will face Gumy in the quarters.

Courier next faces qualifier Max Mirnyi of Belarus, who posted a 6-2 7-6 (9-7) win over French qualifier Rodolphe Cadart, Petr Korda's first-round conqueror.

Crowning glory: Bermuda Open champ Hernan Gumy has qualified for an ATP Tour quarter-finals for the first time in two years.