All of this year's Vegeta Croatia Open quarterfinalists are now
known. The biggest surprise was Slovenian Aljaž Bedene, ranked at
100 in the world, who defeated the tournament fourth seed and ex
tournament champion, Ukranian Alexandr Dolgopolov (6:3, 6:1) on the
central court.
"This is the greatest victory of my career. One of the big
ones was against Wawrinka in Chennai, but this one is special
because I played in front of many Slovenian fans. I noticed that
Dolgopolov wasn't his usual self, I felt that I had the advantage
if I won my first set, because I was in better shape. Why did
Dolgopolov play badly? Good question, but he's the only one that
knows the answer", said the Slovenian tennis player after the
match.
"I trained well here in Umag, I believed that I'll have a good
tournament, but it happened that nothing was working well for me
that day. I wasn't expecting this, I love this tournament and I'll
almost certainly be back next year", added Dolgopolov.
Bedene will face Tommy Robredo in the quarterfinals, the
experienced Spaniard had little trouble getting through Viktor
Troicki from Serbia (6:0, 6:4)
"I've had the control from the beginning of the match. It
might have seemed different, but I didn't have any trouble in the
second set either, the result could have been more convincing if I
used the point for 5:2. When I play like this, the chances are
slim", said the confident Robredo.
After his victory against the 16 year-old Borna Ćorić, Argentinean
Horacio Zeballos went a step further on Thursday, and grabbed his
third quarterfinal this season after defeating his compatriot
Carlos Berlocq, even though, he lost his first set like in the
first round (3:6, 6:3, 6:3). It was their third encounter and
second win by Zeballos who now awaits his clash with Andreas
Seppi.
All of this year’s Vegeta Croatia Open quarterfinalists are now known. The biggest surprise was Slovenian Aljaž Bedene, ranked at 100 in the world, who defeated the tournament fourth seed and ex tournament champion, Ukranian Alexandr Dolgopolov (6:3, 6:1) on the central court.