From correspondents in Washington 05aug05 BRITAIN'S Greg Rusedski was eliminated from the ATP Washington Classic today, falling to Croatia's Ivo Karlovic 7-6 6-2 in a third-round match at the US Open tune-up. Karlovic fired 14 aces, twice as many as Rusedski, and advanced to a quarter-final tomorrow against the winner of a later match between American top seed Andy Roddick and Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela. Rusedski, 31, won last month at Newport and reached the Indianapolis semi-finals but the 37th-ranked Briton suffered his first career loss in three meetings with 75th-rated Karlovic in falling to 20-14 on the season.
Karlovic saved two break points in the first and third games of the match and battled Rusedski into a tiebreaker with neither losing serve. Rusedski sent a forehand long and netted a forehand to drop the tiebreaker, then surrendered a break to open the second set. Karlovic saved a break point with a service winner in the sixth game and Rusedski double faulted away another break. Karlovic held at love and ended it with an ace after 77 minutes.