Top seed advances in Croatia

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UMAG, Croatia, July 12 (UPI) -- No. 1 seed Fernando Verdasco and defending champion Alexandr Dolgopolov both earned second-round wins Thursday at the Croatia Open.

Verdasco, who captured this event four years ago, fought off Ernests Gulbis 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 and the third-seeded Dolgopolov breezed past Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-4.

No. 5 seed Carlos Berlocq had a tougher time than expected before disposing of Marco Trungelliti 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-1 and Andrey Kuznetsov defeated Mate Pavic 7-6 (7-0), 6-1 in a meeting of wild-card entrants.

The quarterfinals, all of which will be played Friday, will send Verdasco against Kuznetsov, No. 2 seed Marin Cilic against Wayne Odesnik, Dolgopolov against Berlocq and Marcel Granollers against Matthias Bachinger.