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  • Seeds continue to fall in Zagreb

    2/29/08 12:38 AM | David Cox
    - The seeds continued to fall in Croatia on Wednesday leaving just Ivan Ljubicic and Janko Tipsarevic remaining in the draw at the quarter-final stage !

    Ljubicic progressed 6-4, 7-6 in 93 minutes at the expense of compatriot, good friend and wildcard Lovro Zovko. Zovko is only ranked 509 in singles but is well inside the doubles top 100 and can be a tough player on his day with great serve-volley skills. The Zagreb courts really suit his game and he came into this off an impressive 6-3, 7-5 opening round defeat of Marc Gicquel. Ljubicic was helped by 18 aces in a tight match featuring just 1 break of serve, going Ljubicic’s way at 5-4 in the first set.

    Tipsarevic had to work much harder to book his place in the last 8 against another wildcard, eventually overcoming Roko Karanusic 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4. Karanusic is only ranked 109 while Tipsarevic is in the top 50 but as is so often the case with players in front of large home crowds, Karanusic played well above himself and if he hadn’t incurred an injury at the start of the decider, could have sprung an upset. Tipsarevic got the early break in the first set and just about hung on, Karanusic missed 6 chances to break back, the Serbian defending extremely well and frustrating his opponent into missing. It looked as though Tipsarevic was cruising at 6-3, *3-2 with the break but lost concentration and handed it straight back with a series of errors. Karanusic took a tight tiebreak and was looking the stronger player but disaster struck in the first game of the third, the Croat straining an abdominal muscle. This visibly hampered his serving, he wasn’t getting anything like as much pace on it but Tipsarevic wasn’t able to capitalise until 4-4 when he finally got the decisive break.

    Speaking afterwards Karanusic said “I played a great match, the only thing I regret is having these abdominal problems. I had a shot at winning, played the 3rd set without the serve and was doing alright, dominating off the second shot. I had chances in the first set as well, but he played the key points better. It was just a shame I couldn’t play my best tennis in the third set.”

    The shock of the day came from Italy’s Simone Bolleli who stunned 5th seed Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3 in just 72 minutes. Bolelli, the world no 66 had only won 1 ATP match this season before Zagreb but it was almost routine, breaks midway through both sets proving decisive. Cilic didn’t have the best of days on serve, making only 55% 1st serves and winning just 38% 2nd serve points

    Robin Haase continued his impressive recent form, taking out third seed Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-4. Despite Simon’s run in Rotterdam last week (he made the semis) this wasn’t a huge surprise as Haase is playing the best tennis of his life at the moment and has already beaten Baghdatis, Murray and Ljubicic this year

    MarioAncic made it 6 wins in 7 matches for 2008, a 6-3, 6-2 rout of left-hander Denis Gremelmayr. The German really struggled with his first serve, making just 43%. It could have been even more one-sided, had Ancic converted more than 3 of his 12 break points. Afterwards Ancic said “I didn’t know his style very well, he’s left-handed and I needed a couple of games to get familiar with how to play him. Then, when I got the break, everything started to be easier. I knew what I needed to do and I stuck to my game plan.”
    Making up the rest of the quarter-finalists are Olivier Rochus, Teimuraz Gabashvilli and Sergei Stakhovsky (who won a marathon against Troicki 7-6, 3-6, 6-4)

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