Baghdatis into QFs; Ljubicic Begins Title Defense

Second-seeded Marcos Baghdatis became the first player into the quarterfinals at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old Cypriot advanced to his third ATP-level quarterfinal of the season from four tournaments with a 7-6(1), 6-3 win over Canadian Frank Dancevic in one hour and 18 minutes. Baghdatis also reached the last eight in Doha (d. Soderling) and Sydney (d. Moya) earlier this month.

Earlier in the day, defending champion Ivan Ljubicic cruised into the second round with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Croatian compatriot Roko Karanusic in 68 minutes.

Top-seeded Ljubicic, who captured his seventh career ATP title in Doha (d. Murray) at the start of the season, hit nine aces and won 26 of 30 points on first serve. Ljubicic broke in the third game of the opening set and in the seventh game of the second set.

Karanusic, currently No. 169 in the ATP Ranking, was playing the 18th ATP-level singles match of his career. The last of his two ATP wins came at Wimbledon last year, where he lost to Juan Carlo Ferrero in the second round.

Third-seeded Swede Robin Soderling was unable to repeat his come-from-behind victory in the first round, bowing out to Austrian Alexander Peya 7-5, 4-6, 6-2. Soderling, who rallied from a set down in the first round to defeat Gilles Simon in a third-set tie-break, was unable to consistently convert his break point opportunities, winning two of seven break point chances.

ATP World No. 8 Ljubicic will next play Austrian Stefan Koubek, who recorded his first career victory in two-and-a-half years over Feliciano Lopez of Spain. Koubek, currently No. 58 in the ATP Rankings, won 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 in one hour and 48 minutes.

France’s Michael Llodra earned his first ATP-level win of the season when he knocked out seventh-seeded Kristof Vliegen of Belgium 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 6-3 in the pair’s first career meeting. Vliegen was the ATP blog writer in Auckland, where he reached the quarterfinals (l. Ferrer).

Another Frenchman, Arnaud Clement, breezed into the second round with a 6-4, 6-1 victory in 57 minutes over Croatian wild card Marin Cilic - winning 79 per cent of service points.

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