PUNE, India — Marin Cilic of Croatia comfortably beat India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-3 at the Maharashtra Open on Wednesday, but third seed Roberto Bautista Agut was eliminated.
The top-seeded Cilic, who is ranked sixth in the world, needed only 72 minutes to book his spot in the quarterfinals.
Despite losing serve at 5-3 in the first set, Cilic broke back immediately to clinch the first set and dropped only seven points across five service games in the second to seal an easy victory.
Ciliic will face Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who recovered to beat local favourite Yuki Bhambri 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
French veteran Gilles Simon stunned world No. 20 Agut 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Bautista Agut looked set to take the match into the decisive third set when he led 5-3 in the tie-break. However, Simon won four successive points and will now meet another Spaniard Ricardo Ojeda Lara, who beat Ilya Ivashka 6-4, 6-4.
Fourth seed Benoit Paire saved five match points in the third set tie-break to beat Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6) in the second-round match which last just over three hours.
No. 7 seed Mikhail Kukushkin edged past Laslo Djere 7-5, 7-6 (5) for a place in the last eight while fifth seed Robin Haase beat Nicolas Jarry 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5.
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