Top seed Gael Monfils won the final eight games in beating Austrian qualifier Bastian Trinker 6-3, 6-0 to reach the quarter-finals of the Croatia Open on Thursday.
Monfils, who made the semi-finals on his last appearance in Umag in 2013, next faces sixth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, who won the final four games of his match to defeat Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 6-2, 7-5.
“It will be tough,” said Monfils, who has beaten Kohlschreiber twice this year. “He is well prepared.”
Photo: EPA
Second seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain also eased into the last eight by defeating Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 6-1, 6-2.
Bautista Agut, coming off a run to the Wimbledon round-of-16, made it to his fifth quarter-finals of the year.
He next faces Borna Coric of Croatia, who made the quarter-finals for the second year in a row by defeating Aljaz Bedene of Britain 6-4, 6-4.
It is the fourth quarter-final this year for 18-year-old Coric, who is the youngest player in the top 50.
Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria upset eighth seed Martin Klizan of Slovakia 6-4, 6-4.
Klizan broke early in both sets, but could not keep the lead. Haider-Maurer converted four of 13 break points.
Another Austrian, fourth seed Dominic Thiem, advanced after Dusan Lajovic retired because of heat-related exhaustion while trailing 6-1, 3-1.
Last weekend, Lajovic played for Serbia in the Davis Cup quarter-finals loss in Argentina.
SWEDISH OPEN
Benoit Paire of France ousted top seed David Goffin of Belgium 6-2, 6-3 at the Swedish Open on Thursday to reach his first quarter-final in 15 months.
Paire improved to 2-0 against Goffin, who lost his service game five times.
Next up for Paire is Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, who saved all five break points he faced against 2010 Bastad champion Nicolas Almagro of Spain in a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
Former two-time champion Tommy Robredo defeated Spanish compatriot Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 6-4 to reach his 10th quarter-finals at Bastad and he next faces French qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu, who beat Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-3.
Robredo, up 4-2 on Mathieu, was looking forward to their first match in nine years.
“When were were young, Paul-Henri and I seemingly met in every junior final and as pros we have played once or twice,” Robredo said.
Defending champion Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, with 10 aces and eight double faults, beat Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 6-0, saving eight of 10 break points in a match lasting 2 hours, 7 minutes.
Cuevas next faces Steve Darcis of Belgium, who knocked out eighth seed Jerzy Janowicz of Poland 6-1, 6-4.
CLARO OPEN
Top seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia came back to defeat home favorite Daniel Elahi Galan 6-7 (12/14), 6-1, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the Claro Open on Thursday.
World No. 23 Karlovic served 28 aces and did not allow a single break point against the 607th-ranked Colombian.
Karlovic, the runner-up last year in Bogota, next faces meet veteran wild-card Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, who beat sixth seed Sam Groth of Australia 6-4, 6-0.
Third seed Adrian Mannarino of France also did not concede a break point on his way to a 7-5, 6-3 win over Rajeev Ram of the US, setting up a quarter-final against Malek Jaziri of Tunisia, who rallied to defeat US qualifier Alexander Sarkissian 6-7 (1/7), 6-3, 6-2.
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