Dubai, UAE - Croatian seeds split the difference on Monday's opening day at the Barclays Championships, with Marin Cilic fighting back as Ivo Karlovic crashed out to a qualifier.
Cilic, seeded fifth, met up with Serbian Janko Tipsarevic and handed his familiar rival a third defeat over seven weeks in their series, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.
Swiss qualifier Marco Chiudinelli began putting in a bid for a place on next week's Swiss Davis Cup team to face the US.