Cilic Wins Metz Opener; Malisse Beats 2005 Champion Ljubicic

© Getty ImagesXavier Malisse beat Ivan Ljubicic for the first time since August 2002 to snap a two-match losing streak.

Top seed Marin Cilic overcame Slovakian Lukas Lacko 7-5, 7-6(3) in his second-round opening match Thursday at the Open de Moselle, an ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in Metz.

The 21-year-old Croatian improved to an 8-1 mark on indoor hard courts this season as he saved all three break points faced on serve and fired 12 aces to close out the victory in one hour and 46 minutes. It was his first appearance since enduring a five-set loss to Kei Nishikori in the second round of the US Open – the third longest match in tournament history at four hours and 59 minutes.

"I am very happy with the way I played today," said Cilic. "He had a match in his legs so not easy for me to enter the tournament like that but I felt comfortable from the beginning.  In the second set I had four or five chances to convert break points and as I couldn’t, he got in the match and started playing really well."

Cilic is currently No. 14 in the year-to-date South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings, and will look to step up his bid for one of the eight Barclays ATP World Tour Finals berths with less than two months remaining in the regular season. He made a stellar start to the year, defending his titles at Chennai and Zagreb and reaching the Australian Open semi-finals (l. to Murray).

He will next face German Philipp Kohlschreiber, whom he has lost to in three of their previous meetings. "Against Kohlschreiber it will be tough," said Cilic. "I already lost to him before and I know he plays well in this surface. We will see."

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Xavier Malisse won a battle of ATP World Tour veterans, knocking out 2005 champion and third seed Ivan Ljubicic 7-5, 6-2 in 80 minutes. It was 30-year-old Malisse’s first win in eight years over 31-year-old Ljubicic, who hit 12 aces but dropped to a 17-14 match record on the season after Malisse broke his serve three times.

World No. 55 Malisse has reached two ATP World Tour semi-finals this year at the UNICEF Open (l. to Stakhovsky) and Legg Mason Tennis Classic (l. to Baghdatis). He will next challenge eighth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon in the last eight.

Simon hit 15 aces past Dutch qualifier Igor Sijsling, who hit 13 aces, for a 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory in one hour and 53 minutes. The French World No. 41 has advanced to two quarter-finals at the AEGON International (l. to Llodra) and Legg Mason Tennis Classic (l. to Nalbandian).

"I started really well, with a break at the beginning of the second and all of a sudden, things got tricky and I found myself losing the second set and having to fight to win the match in the third," said Simon. "I feel overall I am playing well. I am just lacking the confidence in the important points.

"Against Malisse, he is a player with a lot more confidence and I know it will be difficult."

Finland's Jarkko Nieminen saved six of seven break points to defeat Kristof Vliegen of Belgium 6-4, 6-1 in 68 minutes. German Mischa Zverev took the same amount of time to record a 6-4, 6-2 win over French lucky loser Nicolas Mahut, who stepped in as a late replacement for defending champion Gael Monfils.