ZAGREB, Croatia, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic worked through three tough sets Thursday in claiming a second-round victory at the Zagreb Indoors tennis tournament in Croatia.
Ljubicic took a 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (5-7), 6-4 match from Stefan Koubek. Ljubicic defeated Koubek in the title match of the Zagreb Indoors last year.
He draws another unseeded player, Thomas Johansson, in Friday's quarterfinals. Johansson advanced on a 6-3, 1-0 decision over Daniele Bracciali, who retired in the second set of Thursday's match.
In other second-round matches involving seeded players Thursday, No. 4 Mikhail Youzhny dropped Tomas Cakl 6-4, 6-2; and eighth-seeded Arnaud Clement beat Lukas Dlouhy, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). Also, Marc Gicquel stopped Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; and Michael Llodra got by Ivo Karlovic, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8).
In addition to the Ljubicic-Johansson match, the other quarterfinal pairings Friday are second-seeded Marcos Baghdatis versus Clement; Youzhny against Gicquel; and Llodra playing Alexander Peya.
