PBZ Indoors: Cilic Displayed Best Performance

The quarter-finals bring the matches of young Croatian tennis players Marin Cilic and Antonio Veic.

For the first time since the PZB Indoors has been player, Ivan Ljubicic won`t be playing in the final, who lost in the second round of the 450,000 euro tournament to young Serbian tennis player Viktor Troicki.

- It would be sad if I had won. I played my two worst matches against Viktor. There was not a single segment I could assess with a 2/5 grade, and the only positive thing was that I turned this play into a match – Ljubicic criticised himself after the match.

PHOTO: Ljubicic Fails Against Troicki

Ivan did not feel anything on court and for the first time, the ball dropped under the net when he hit a backhand. He tried being aggressive, but Troicki could hardly wait for that. Ivan did not lose his temper often, but this was not enough for a win. The former third player in the world needed a good game to win, which he simply could not play. It was obvious that it was not his day and the Serbian tennis player punished all of his mistakes.

Marin to play against Antonio in the quarter-finals

First Croatian racquet Marin Cilic had no problems defeating Frenchman Florent Serra 6:2, 7:5. Marin was excellent on the court and he could have won the first set even more convincingly if he had used the draw upon Florent`s serve when the scoreboard showed 5:1.

- I think I played the first set really well. After leading 3:1 in the second set, I missed a couple of chances to break him all the way and I ruined my serve after that. I constantly pressured his serve, so he did not score too many points – Marin Cilic said after his excellent match against the Frenchman.

This was Cilic`s second match without any problems and he is one of the favourites of the tournament. He will play against fellow Croat Antonio Veic in the quarter-finals, who knocked out Guillermo Canas and Korolev Evgeny.

Korolev won the first set 6:3, but this did not stop Veic from winning the second set in a tie-break, which he was losing 4:2, but returned at 7:6 (5). The third set was exciting, which the Croatian tennis player won 6:4, although Evgeny has three break points which he did not use when the scoreboard showed 5:4.

Roko and Lovro unsuccessful

Roko Karanusic did not defeat Paul-Henri Mathieu, who was better after three played sets, 6:7, 6:1, 7:6. The match was thrilling and Karanusic may have won, but failed to use six break points, while he saved eight of them. The players equalised when it came to aces.

- I oscillated in the whole match too much. I need to fix my game not to oscillate anymore – Roko said after the match.

Not even Lovro Zovko could win, who was outplayed by Romanian Victor Hanescu without any problems. Victor won 6:3, 7:5 with just two taken serves and qualified for the next round, where he will play against German Mischa Zverev.