NOTTINGHAM, England — Top seed Kevin Anderson beat Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 in the Nottingham Open on Tuesday.
"Ivan’s got a great serve," said the South African.
Anderson said he was getting more comfortable on grass. "I actually prefer the slower, higher-bouncing courts, but a lot of the things I’m working on include coming forward and being a bit more aggressive. The grass definitely suits that side of tennis very easily."
Damir Dzumhur eliminated the defending champion and then lost in straight sets a few hours later.
The Bosnian beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, winning the third set after the match was suspended by darkness on Monday. But in his second-round match, Dzumhur lost to Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil 6-1, 6-4.
Also, former top-10 player Mikhail Youzhny, who won the last of his 10 titles in 2013, beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-1, 6-4 in the second round, while Dudi Sela of Israel defeated third-seeded Joao Sousa 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Other winners included Sam Querrey, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Andreas Seppi, Gilles Muller and Marcos Baghdatis.