By Lisa-Marie Burrows
Cilic is delighting the home crowd. (Photo credit: Getty Images)
In the ATP tournament in Umag the clay-court contest saw Fernando Verdasco and Marin Cilic win in spectacular fashion and progress to the semifinals. The top-seeded Spaniard annihilated Kuznetsov 6-2, 6-2 whilst local favourite and second-seeded Cilic ousted Wayne Odesnik 6-4 6-0.
It was a very encouraging display from both Verdasco and Cilic who are the top two seeds of the tournament and are on track for an exciting meeting in the finals of the tournament.
Alexandr Dolgopolov may be the man to prevent that final as the Ukrainian has forcefully booked his place in the semifinals with a convincing 6-4 6-4 result over Carlos Berlocq who is always an awkward customer on the clay court surface.
Marcel Granollers had a tougher quarter-final match against Matthias Bachinger who he scraped past, but not entirely convincing. It was not a good start for the Spaniard who lost the first set 6-1, but he returned more composed with added determination in the second set, which saw Granollers and winning his games more comfortably and took the second set 6-3.
Once gain in the third set problems continued for Granollers as he battled to 5-5 unable to clinch a break, but in the end the experience and tough attitude of the Spaniard helped him to win the match 7-5 in the third to book his place in the semifinals.
July 14, 2012
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