Ferrero continues Croatia Open streak

UMAG, Croatia, July 27 (UPI) -- Defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero rallied for a three-set, second-round upset victory Wednesday at the Croatia Open tennis tournament.

Ferrero knocked off No. 3-seeded and local favorite Ivan Ljubicic 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Ljubicic controlled the first set and had service breaks in the other two sets. However, Ferrero was able to overcome those by converting two of three break chances in each the second and third sets.

Carlos Berlocq advanced without going on the court as fifth-seeded Tommy Robredo withdrew before Wednesday's match because of a left calf injury. Ferrero and Berlocq are paired against each other for Friday's quarterfinals.

Second-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov blew past Filippo Volandri 6-1, 6-2 in just 55 minutes for his second-round win. Dolgopolov won 70 percent of the points on serve and fought off all five break points he faced. He dropped 15 points -- seven in one second-set game -- on serve.

He'll go against Albert Ramos in the quarterfinals. Ramos was a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Gianluca Naso. He also didn't lose his serve and posted breaks in half of Naso's service games.