Marin Cilic advances to second round in Rotterdam

09 February 2016 12:23

Second seed Marin Cilic was among those to safely progress into round two of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam after the Croatian got the better of Denis Istomin.

Cilic, the 2014 runner-up, moved into the last 16 by defeating his Uzbek opponent 7-6 (7/5) 6-4.

He said on atpworldtour.com: "It was a very close match.

"Denis is the kind of player that can play really, really well, especially indoors.

"I think it was a strange match today. There were no breaks of serve in the match until the last game. I had to hang in there mentally."

The other seed in action on Monday failed to make it through, France's seventh-seeded Benoit Paire losing 6-3 7-6 (7/4) to Cilic's compatriot Ivan Dodig.

Jiri Vesely beat fellow Czech Lukas Rosol 6-4 6-2, another Croatian, Borna Coric, emerged with a 7-6 (11/9) 4-6 6-3 victory from his battle with Holland's Thiemo De Bakker, and French qualifier Nicolas Mahut overcame Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-4 7-6 (7/4).

Source: PA