Big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic reached the quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Tuesday with a straight-sets win over Alexander Bogomolov Jr.
World No. 130 Karlovic recovered from a break down in the second set to beat 96th-ranked Bogomolov, the last Russian left in the men's tournament, by a score of 7-6(11), 6-4.
"It was crucial because it was a really tight match and the tiebreaker was really long and in the end I was a bit more lucky than he was," he said.
"After that I just felt that the match was going my way."
Karlovic's quarterfinal opponent is French qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who stunned top seed Alexander Dolgopolov of Ukraine earlier Thursday.
Karlovic said he had seen Roger-Vasselin's match against Dolgopolov and noted the Frenchman had "unbelievable tactics and a really good backhand, so it will not be easy."
The courts in Moscow have come under fire from some players for being too slow, which could hurt the Croatian's power game, but Karlovic said he had no criticism.
Bogomolov rued missed opportunities.
"There were a lot of chances to break," Bogomolov said.
The match was only the second senior encounter between the two veterans, after Bogomolov won in Canada in 2004.
