Ivo Karlovic beats Tommy Robredo

Madrid : Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic hit 29 aces as he beat Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-7(5) 7-6(8) 6-4 in the first round of the Barcelona Open yesterday.

The Croatian, both the oldest and tallest player at the clay court tournament at 39 years old and 211 centimetres, used his cannonball serve to beat the former champion at the club he has trained at since he was 14.

Karlovic will face another Spaniard in eighth seed Roberto Bautista Agut on Tuesday in the round of 32.

Pablo Cuevas, Rogerio Dutra Silva, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Marcel Granollers, Malek Jaziri, Leonardo Mayer and Stefanos Tsitsipas all progressed in straight sets.

Dusan Lajovic beat Pedro Martinez 6-4 6-7(5) 6-3, while Benoit Paire squeezed past Nicolas Jarry 7-6(4) 6-7(3) 6-4.