Fifth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy reached his second quarter-finals of the young season when he beat James Ward of Britain 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 at the Zagreb Indoors on Thursday.
Seppi came back from 2-0 down to win the first set, then blew a 4-2 lead in the second. In the third, Seppi overcame another broken serve to prevail in 2 hours, 20 minutes.
His eighth win of the year followed a semi-final showing in Doha, and a fourth-round run at the Australian Open, including a win over Roger Federer.
Photo: AFP
Another enjoying a good start was third-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain, also into his second quarter-finals this year after defeating Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia 6-1, 6-1 in the second round.
Garcia-Lopez saved five break points, and lined up seventh-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who eased past Go Soeda of Japan 6-3, 6-1. Troicki won 96 percent of points on his first serve and never faced a break point.
Second-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France was upset by Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-1 in their first matchup.
Sijsling lost only three points on serve in the third set, and will appear in his first quarter-finals in 12 months.
Ivan Dodig, the last Croatian in the tournament after Marin Cilic withdrew and top-seeded Ivo Karlovic lost, was beaten by eighth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain 7-6 (10/8), 4-6, 6-3, marking the first time a Croatian has failed to make the last eight.
He squandered five set points in the opening set: One at 5-4, two at 6-5, and two more in the tiebreak.
Dodig lost serve only once in the match, at 3-4 in the third set, but it happened to be decisive.
“I remember when we played here four years ago and I lost easily. This time I played better than then,” Granollers said. “I feel sorry for the crowd, with no Croats left now in the draw, but Croats won so many titles here before.”
Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania came back from a set down, and 5-2 down in the second-set tiebreaker to upset fourth-seeded Gilles Muller from Luxembourg 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
OPEN SUD DE FRANCE
Top-seeded Gael Monfils won a tight all-French encounter against Kenny De Schepper 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) to reach the quarter-finals of the Open Sud de France on Thursday.
One break of serve was enough for Monfils, who saved all three break points he faced.
Monfils will next take on qualifier Steve Darcis of Belgium, who defeated Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-2, 7-6 (7/3).
Third-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany hit 19 aces and saved 11 of the 13 break points he faced before rallying past Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in a second-round match that lasted more than two hours.
ECUADOR OPEN
Top-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain hit 10 aces in defeating Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia 7-5, 6-2 to reach the Ecuador Open quarter-finals on Thursday.
Lopez, coming off a fourth-round effort at the Australian Open, avenged a loss to Gonzalez in April last year in Houston.
The Quito event is the first in a month of ATP and WTA clay-court tournaments across Latin America. Quito is at 2,800m, a challenge for players unaccustomed to the thin air in the Andes.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
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