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Radek Stepanek eases past Stefan Koubek on Tuesday in Zagreb. Stepanek is joined in the second round by Daniel Brands, who outlasted Ivo Karlovic in a third-set tiebreaker.
Radek Stepanek d. (Q) Stefan Koubek 6-3, 6-2
Koubek did well to qualify for the main draw of the PBZ Zagreb Indoors, but he looked hopeless against Stepanek as the underdog Austrian bowed out in just 57 minutes on Monday afternoon. Struggling immensely on serve right from the start, Koubek won fewer than half of his first-serve points in the opening set and saw Stepanek break a whopping three times. The 32-year-old Czech's third break of the day at 5-3 finished off the set in style.
Stepanek donated his own serve once in the first, but he picked up the pace in the second. The world No. 63 did not face a single break point and he continued to dominate in the return department by winning nine of 11 second-serve points in set two. In appropriate fashion, Stepanek ended the proceedings with his fifth break at 5-2. He will battle No. 5 seed Florian Mayer for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Read more: http://www.tennistalk.com/en/news/20110201/Stepanek_routs_Koubek,_Brands_boots_Karlovic_in_'breaker
