Zagreb, Croatia (SportsNetwork.com) – Second seed Adrian Mannarino was sent
packing, while four other seeds, including Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Andreas
Seppi, posted second-round wins Thursday at the Zagreb Indoors tennis event.
Dutchman Igor Sijsling upset the Frenchman Mannarino in 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-1
fashion at Dom Sportova, while the third-seeded Spaniard Garcia-Lopez grounded
Bosnian Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-1 and the fifth-seeded Italian Seppi held off
Brit James Ward 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3.
Seppi stunned Roger Federer in the third round at the Australian Open two
weeks ago.
“I didn’t have so much energy today,” admitted Seppi on Thursday. “I felt a
little bit down. I didn’t feel I could play as aggressively as I wanted, and I
gave him a little bit more space to play. I think he played really well. He
served good at important moments. I could have actually finished in two sets
as I was 7-5, 4-2 up, but I lost the tiebreak. Anyway, I am happy to be
through and I will try to improve next match.”
An upset came when Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis tackled fourth-seeded Gilles
Muller of Luxembourg 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, while seventh-seeded Serb Viktor
Troicki avoided an upset by whipping Japanese Go Soeda 6-3, 6-1 on Day 4. The
resurgent Troicki was a titlist in Sydney last month.
Troicki will meet Garcia-Lopez in Friday’s quarterfinals, while Berankis will
face Seppi.
Another result saw eighth-seeded Spaniard Marcel Granollers outlast Croatia’s
Ivan Dodig 7-6 (10-8), 4-6, 6-3. Dodig captured the title here in 2011.
Granollers will tangle with Sijsling on Friday.
The marquee quarterfinal will pit sixth-seeded 2012 Zagreb champ Mikhail
Youzhny against former Australian Open runner-up and 2007 Zagreb titlist
Marcos Baghdatis.
The 2015 Zagreb champ will collect $90,000.
