World No 17 Marin Cilic made his way into the singles quarterfinals at the fifth edition of the Tata Open Maharashtra after beating Roberto Carballes Baena 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in an exciting contest at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Wednesday.
The 2014 US Open champion Cilic, who received a bye in the opening round, made a dominating start in the match and took the first set without breaking a sweat.
However, Baena, the former junior world No 8, made an impressive comeback in the second set. The 29-year-old Spanish player took a 5-2 lead before winning it comfortably to take the match into the decider.
Top-seeded Cilic got his act together in the crucial third set as the former world No 3 Croatian took an early 3-0 lead and did not let the momentum slip away before clinching the set as well as the match easily in the end.
He will face Tallon Griekspoor in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The world No 95 Griekspoor beat Marco Cecchinato 6-4, 6-4 in the second round.
Meanwhile, India’s Arjun Kadhe and Fernando Romboli suffered a 6-7 (6), 2-6 defeat against the second-seeded pair of Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow in the doubles Round of 16 match.
Earlier in the day, Benjamin Bonzi and Pedro Martinez recorded stunning upsets to enter the quarterfinal.
The world No 60 French star Bonzi stunned last year’s runner-up Emil Ruusuvuori 6-1, 7-6 (4), while world No 62 Martinez pulled off a sensational come-from-behind 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory against fourth-seeded Sebastian Baez, who is ranked 43 in the world.
In the other singles matches, eight seed Aslan Karatsev overcame the challenge of Tim van Rijthoven 7-6 (7), 7-6 (8) in a thrilling match. The Dutch star Botic Van De Zandschulp, who received a bye in the opening round, got the better of the qualifier Flavio Cobolli by 7-5, 6-4.
Maximilian Marterer, Filip Krajinovic were the others to make it to the quarterfinals.
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