CASABLANCA, Morocco — Second-seeded Martin Klizan of Slovakia withstood a strong challenge from Germany's Dustin Brown to win 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5) and reach the quarterfinals of the Grand Prix Hassan II Wednesday. In an evenly-matched contest, both players had three aces and dropped serve four times each. Sixth-seeded Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria also advanced to the last eight after beating Spaniard Pablo Andujar 7-5, 6-3. Haider-Maurer had nine aces and saved all four break-point chances on his serve. Petkovic advances Defending champion Andrea Petkovic opened play at the Family Circle Cup with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Chanelle Scheepers Tuesday. Petkovic, seeded third, lost the opening set 6-1 before taking 12 of the next 15 games to advance. Others moving on were fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber, sixth-seeded Jelana Jankovic and eighth-seeded Caroline Garcia. The top two seeds, Eugenie Bouchard and Ekaterina Makarova, start play at the clay-court tournament Wednesday. Petkovic was a surprise champion here a year ago. But it looked as if she would be a surprise early loser in defending the title. However, Petkovic turned things around to win her seventh straight match at the Family Circle Tennis Center. Other winners Tuesday were past champion, ninth-seeded Sam Stosur; 12th-seeded Belinda Bencic and last year's finalist Jana Cepelova. Tipsarevic outlasts Clezar Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia made a triumphant return to the ATP Tour by outlasting qualifier Guilherme Clezar 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7) Tuesday in the first round of the US Men's Clay Court Championship. Tipsarevic had to save two match points in the tiebreaker, one of them with Clezar serving, to win for the first time since Oct. 1, 2013. Tipsarevic hadn't played in more than 500 days after two surgeries on his left foot nearly ended his career. Defending champion Fernando Verdasco from Spain, the sixth seed, moved on when Paolo Lorenzi of Italy retired with a leg injury in the second set. Other first-round winners Tuesday were Jeremy Chardy of France, Americans Steve Johnson and Jack Sock, Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia and the 18-year-old South Korean Chung Hyeon. Doctors still can't assure Tipsarevic, who needed 2 hours, 38 minutes to top Clezar, another tumor won't grow back in the same spot as the other two. And, if it does, he will have to retire. A third operation isn't possible. “My life would not be in danger,” he said, “but I could not play tennis again. Basically (the second surgery) took away about 80 percent of my sole. That's why it took so long (to return).” Tipsarevic prepped for his comeback in Houston by playing a doubles match in Miami last week with his countryman, Novak Djokovic, as his partner. It was Djokovic's idea. “I would never have asked,” Tipsarevic said. Djokovic, who also went on to win the singles title in Miami, tweeted Tuesday that he was watching the Tipsarevic match online and wished him good luck. Hingis in Fed Cup team Martina Hingis has rejoined Switzerland's Fed Cup team for the first time in 17 years to help gain eligibility for next year's Olympics. The five-time Grand Slam singles winner, now a doubles specialist, has been picked for Switzerland's World Group playoff at Poland on April 18-19. Hingis must play in the team event to be eligible for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She last played Fed Cup when Switzerland lost in the 1998 final against Spain. — Agencies
