Martin Saves 5 M.P. To Stun Klizan

Andrej Martin snapped the five-match win streak of seventh seed Martin Klizan on Thursday at the Konzum Croatia Open Umag, saving five match points to prevail in their second-round encounter, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Klizan, who prevailed last week at the German Tennis Championships 2016, had all five match points on his serve at 5-4 in the second set. Martin raised his game even further in the deciding set, landing 83 per cent of his first serves and not giving Klizan any break point opportunities.

Martin, ranked No. 70 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, is now into his first ATP World Tour quarter-final of the year. The Slovakian next plays the winner of the match between second seed Joao Souza and Leonardo Mayer.

Gastao Elias caused the upset of the tournament over top seed Pablo Cuevas, saving a match point to prevail in their second-round battle, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(7). Elias was unable to serve out the match at 5-4 in third set or convert on his first match point at 6/5 in the final-set tiebreak, but saved a match point down 6/7 and won the final two points to clinch the match.

The 25-year-old from Portugal is seeking his second ATP World Tour semi-final of the year, having reached the final four last week at the SkiStar Swedish Open. He’s also excelled on the ATP Challenger Tour by winning two $50,000 events this spring in Italy.

Next up for Elias is sixth seed Pablo Carreno Busta, who moved into the quarter-finals with a convincing win over Teymuraz Gabashvili, 6-4, 6-2. The Spaniard landed 69 per cent of his first serves in play and only dropped 11 points on serve all match. Carreno Busta is now into an ATP World Tour quarter-final for the sixth time this year.