Umag, Croatia – Top-seeded former champion Fernando Verdasco and reigning titlist Alexandr Dolgopolov were among Thursday's second-round victors at the Croatia Open tennis event.
The lefthanded Verdasco, who titled here in 2008, held off talented Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, while a third-seeded Dolgopolov continued his winning ways in Umag with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Italian Fabio Fognini on the red clay at ATP Stadium.
Meanwhile, fifth-seeded Carlos Berlocq snuck past qualifier and fellow Argentine Marco Trungelliti 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-1 and Russian wild card Andrey Kuznetsov erased Croatian wild card Mate Pavic 7-6 (7-0), 6-1.
Friday's quarterfinals will pit the Spanish Verdasco against Kuznetsov; second-seeded Croat Marin Cilic versus American Wayne Odesnik; the Ukrainian Dolgopolov against Berlocq; and fifth-seeded Spaniard Marcel Granollers versus German Matthias Bachinger. Dolgopolov beat Cilic in last year's Umag finale.
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