Top seed Tomas Berdych enjoyed a winning start on his Shenzhen Open debut, dismissing Austin Krajicek 7-5, 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals.

The Czech is looking to bounce back from a second-round exit last week in St. Petersburg (l. to Bolelli) and boost his bid to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals with a strong showing in Shenzhen. Berdych is attempting to secure his place at the season finale in London for the sixth year in a row.

Berdych set a quarter-final clash with countryman Jiri Vesely as he fired 11 aces and converted three of his nine break points to beat Krajicek in one hour and 33 minutes. The 30-year-old Berdych, who is looking to win his first ATP World Tour title of the season this week, will face Vesely for the first time at tour level.

Sixth seed Vesely ended the campaign of Chinese teenager Zhizhen Zhang with a 6-2, 6-3 victory. The Czech, who is 543 places higher in the Emirates ATP Rankings than Zhang, lost just 10 points on serve as he claimed victory in 62 minutes. Vesely will contest his first ATP World Tour quarter-final since April, when he went on to finish runner-up in Bucharest (l. to Garcia-Lopez).

Third seed Tommy Robredo also opened his campaign with a 7-5, 6-3 victory, beating Japanese qualifier Hiroki Moriya in 73 minutes.

The Spaniard finished runner-up in heart-wrenching style last year in Shenzhen, squandering five match points against Andy Murray in the title match. Robredo is coming off a quarter-final showing in St. Petersburg (l. to Raonic) and improved to a 23-18 match record on the season.

Robredo goes on to face Simone Bolelli, who reached his seventh ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season as he beat eighth seed Victor Estrella Burgos. The Italian was leading 6-4, 4-0 when Estrella Burgos retired from their match due to an upper back injury.