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Zagreb Wednesday Preview

Zagreb, Croatia

Cilic© Getty ImagesMarin Cilic is looking to win his third straight Zagreb title this week.

The first round wraps up and the second round begins at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors on Wednesday, with four seeds seeking quarter-final berths at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament.

First up on Centre Court is No. 5 seed Florian Mayer taking on Radek Stepanek. Although they are 1-1 in their head-to-head, Mayer's win came seven years ago, while Stepanek's win came in the first week of the season last month in Brisbane. Stepanek's ranking (No. 63) is deceiving as he is a former Top 10 player who ranked in the Top 20 as recently as last June (he missed two and a half months last year due to mononucleosis and is working his way back into top form).

Second up is No. 3 seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez against No. 2 Slovak Lukas Lacko. The Spaniard has been playing the best tennis of his career, currently ranked a career-high No. 29 and coming off a strong third round showing at the Australian Open (where he lost to eventual finalist Andy Murray). He won the only previous meeting against Lacko, winning last March at Indian Wells, 46 64 75, but going into that match he was ranked No. 49, and had lost his last six matches and was struggling for confidence.

Third up is top seed and two-time defending Zagreb champion Marin Cilic facing Russian Igor Kunitsyn. Cilic won the previous meeting in Chennai in January 2010 en route to the title. The No. 2 Croat dropped from No. 15 to No. 20 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings this week after not being able to defend his 2010 semi-final points from Melbourne. But Zagreb has always been a special place for the 22-year-old, winning two of his five ATP World Tour titles here (2009-10) and losing just one set in the 10 matches he played.

Last up is No. 8 seed Michael Berrer against Slovenian qualifier Blaz Kavcic. Berrer, who took that one set from Cilic in last year's final here, won his only previous meeting with Kavcic easily in US Open qualifying two years ago, and did reach his first ATP World Tour final here last year. Over on Court 1, the first round wraps up with Ilya Marchenko facing qualifier Dusan Lajovic and Arnaud Clement taking on Mikhail Kukushkin.

WEDNESDAY FIRST ROUND HEAD-TO-HEADS – In Order of Play by Court

Centre Court

Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (5) Florian Mayer (GER) Tied 1-1
04 Estoril (Portugal) Clay R16 Florian Mayer 6-4 6-2
11 Brisbane (Australia) Hard QF Radek Stepanek 6-3 6-3

Stepanek FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
SF: Brisbane (l Soderling)
YTD W-L: 5-3
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 4
Date of Birth: November 27, 1978
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 63

Mayer FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
SF: Sydney (l Troicki); QF: Brisbane (l Stepanek)
YTD W-L: 7-3
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: October 5, 1983
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 38

Lukas Lacko (SVK) vs (3) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)           Garcia-Lopez Leads 1-0
10 ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells    Hard R128 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 4-6 6-4 7-5

Lacko FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 2-2
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: November 3, 1987
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 107

Garcia-Lopez FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: Doha (l Tsonga)
YTD W-L: 5-3
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 2
Date of Birth: June 4, 1983
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 29

(1) Marin Cilic (CRO) vs Igor Kunitsyn (RUS)  Cilic Leads 1-0
10 Chennai (India) Hard R32 Marin Cilic 6-2 6-4

Cilic FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 3-2
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 5
Date of Birth: September 28, 1988
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 20

Kunitsyn FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 2-1
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: September 30, 1981
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 95

(Q) Blaz Kavcic (SLO) vs (8) Michael Berrer (GER) First ATP Meeting
Other Meeting:
09 US Open Q (U.S.A.) Hard -- Michael Berrer 6-2 6-2

Kavcic FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: Chennai (l Berdych)
YTD W-L: 4-2
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: March 5, 1987
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 83

Berrer FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 2-2
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: July 1, 1980
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 66


Court 1
 
Illya Marchenko (UKR) vs (Q) Dusan Lajovic (SRB)  First ATP Meeting
Other Meeting:
08 Belgrade Q (Serbia) Carpet -- Illya Marchenko 6-1 6-7(6)  6-1

Arnaud Clement (FRA) vs Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ)   First Meeting

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