ESTORIL, Portugal - Eighth-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain reached his fourth clay-court quarterfinal of the year when he defeated Taro Daniel of Japan 6-4, 7-5 in the Estoril Open on Thursday.

Busta broke Daniel five times. He was runner-up in Sao Paulo this year, and is still chasing his first ATP title.

Busta will face either top-seeded Gilles Simon or Paul-Henri Mathieu, who played the all-French match late Thursday.

Also, Nicolas Almagro of Spain, the Buenos Aires finalist in February rallied to defeat fourth-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 behind 13 aces.