HYOGU, Japan, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Ivo Karlovic, picking up his third point of the series, posted a win Sunday that advanced Croatia to the Davis Cup quarterfinals over Japan.
Karlovic defeated Go Soeda 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, 6-4 in securing the best-of-five series for Croatia. The Croats head in the Davis Cup quarterfinals April 6-8 against Argentina, which won the first three matches of its series against Germany this weekend.
Karlovic didn't face a break point against Soeda and lost just 12 points on serve. He lost a total of four points when serving over the second and third sets.
Karlovic had a straight-set win over Kei Nishikori in Friday's singles and teamed with Ivan Dodig for a doubles win Saturday to get Croatia to the edge of advancing.
Nishikori kept Japan's hopes alive with a 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win over Dodig in Sunday's first singles match. Nishikori, who didn't managed a break point Friday against Karlovic, had five breaks in his match with Dodig.
But Karlovic answered for Croatia with a solid win in which he had 49 winners against just 17 unforced errors.
