Lukas Lacko of Slovakia ousted second-seeded Alex Bogomolov Jr of Russia on Thursday to advance to the Zagreb Indoors tennis quarter-finals in Croatia.
Bogomolov, a quarter-finalist last year, rallied after dropping the first set but lost five games in only 14 minutes in the decider to bow out 6-0 6-7 (1-7) 6-1.
Third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia defeated Grega Zemlja of Slovenia 6-1 6-3 to reach his third quarter-final in Zagreb.
Defending champion Ivan Dodig beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 4-6 6-4 6-4, and said, “It seems that I cannot win an easy match in Zagreb.
“This one was tough and the one tomorrow will most likely be even tougher.”
The fourth-seeded Dodig will face No.6 Marcos Baghdatis, the 2007 champion, who downed Lukasz Kubot of Poland 6-4 6-2.
“I kept the momentum,” Baghdatis said.
Another Croat, eighth-seeded Ivo Karlovic, won his second-rounder by hitting a dozen aces past Dudi Sela in beating the Israeli 6-3 6-2.
Karlovic will play Youzhny on Friday.