Marin Cilic survived a tough test against Evgeny Donskoy in his opener at the Kremlin Cup, edging the Russian wild card 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the second round.
Cilic, who was down a break early in the third set, broke his opponent three times and struck eight aces during the one hour and 52 minute encounter The 26 year old now awaits the winner between sixth seed Tommy Robredo and Serbian Filip Krajinovic in the quarter-finals.
Fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, also advanced to the quarter-finals, after he beat Sam Groth 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in 84 minutes.
Tommy Robredo, who is competing at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament for the first time in 12 years, defeated qualifier Pedja Krstin 7-6(6), 6-4 in their first-round match.
2009 Kremlin Cup champion Mikhail Youzhny, who is also this week’s seventh seed, beat qualifier Victor Baluda 6-3, 6-4 for a spot in the second round.
Meanwhile, Italian Andreas Seppi, the eighth seed, secured his place in the last eight after defeating Ivan Dodig 7-5, 7-6(3).
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