Semifinal spots will be at stake on Friday in Zagreb. Mikhail Youzhny is going up against Marcos Baghdatis and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez is doing battle with Viktor Troicki.
Marcos Baghdatis vs. (6) Mikhail Youzhny
Baghdatis and Youzhny will be squaring off for the first time in more than four years when they collide in the quarterfinals of the PBZ Zagreb Indoors on Friday. Youzhny leads the head-to-head series 4-2 after most recently prevailing 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-1 at the 2010 indoor event in Kuala Lumpur. Four of their six meetings have come on indoor hard courts and they have split those at two wins apiece.
Head-to-head:
A resurgent Baghdatis finished runner-up at the Happy Valley Challenger last month then reached the third round of the Australian Open before losing to Grigor Dimitrov in five sets. So far this week the 29-year-old Cypriot has taken out Toni Androic and Ivo Karlovic–the latter 9-7 in a third-set tiebreaker. Youzhny appears to be slowing down at 32 years old, but the 56th-ranked Russian booked his spot in the last eight by beating Blaz Kavcic and frequent doubles partner Sergiy Stakhovsky. This will be a battle of clean ball-striking from the baseline, in which a more confident Baghdatis should have a slight edge and force Youzhny to try and mix things up.
Pick: Baghdatis in 3
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(3) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. (7) Viktor Troicki
Head-to-head:
Troicki will be looking to keep his alarmingly perfect record against Garcia-Lopez intact. The 46th-ranked Serb is 5-0 lifetime in the head-to-head series, including 4-0 at the ATP level. They last met at the 2012 Miami Masters, where Troicki got the job done 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Troicki’s comeback from a year-long suspension already includes a title this season (Sydney) and a third-round run in Melbourne. He has advanced in Zagreb with defeats of Illya Marchenko (in a third-set tiebreaker) and Go Soeda.
Garcia-Lopez earned an opening bye as the No. 3 seed before blowing out Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-1 on Thursday. The 33rd-ranked Spaniard won all 10 of the break points in the match, saving five and converting five. Garcia-Lopez is 6-3 for the year with a quarterfinal showing in Chennai and a fourth-round appearance at the Aussie Open. His past history against Troicki, however, does not bode well and an indoor hard-court surface favors the seventh seed.
Pick: Troicki in 3
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