Bernard Tomic is out of the Open de Nice tennis tournament after being beaten by Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin 3-6 6-2 7-5.

The top-seeded John Isner hit 13 aces on his way to a hard-fought 7-6 (3) 7-6 (5) win against Belgium’s Xavier Malisse on Wednesday.

The hard-serving American won a match in which neither player conceded a break point, and will play Nikolay Davydenko in the quarter-finals after the Russian topped seventh-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4 1-6 6-3.

No.2 Gilles Simon of France and No.3 Nicolas Almagro of Spain also advanced to the last eight.

Simon downed Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 6-3 6-3 and will play Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, who beat Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4, 6-3.

Almagro overcame Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6 (5) 6-4 and will face Steve Darcis of Belgium, who rallied past Italian Filippo Volandri 3-6 6-2 6-4.