South African fourth seed Kevin Anderson, bidding for his second ATP Delray Beach Open crown in three seasons, reached the quarter-finals on Wednesday when Croatian Ivo Karlovic retired with a stomach virus.
Anderson, who beat Australian Marinko Matosevic in the 2012 Delray final, held serve in the opening game and was poised to break when the big-serving European called it quits.
Karlovic was coming off a run to last Sunday`s ATP final at Memphis, where he lost to Japanese top seed Kei Nishikori.
Anderson, who lives near to Delray, booked a last-eight date at the $474,000 event against the winner of a later match between Matosevic and Aussie eighth seed Lleyton Hewitt.
Spanish sixth seed Feliciano Lopez, who rallied to eliminate Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, will face the winner of a later match between US qualifier Steve Johnson and German top seed Tommy Haas.
Croatian seventh seed Marin Cilic reached the second round by beating Germany`s Benjamin Becker 6-1, 6-3. Cilic, a champion at Zagreb and runner-up last week at Rotterdam, will next meet American Ryan Harrison.
AFP
First Published: Thursday, February 20, 2014, 08:56
