Vasek Pospisil advances to Citi Open quarters

The Canadian improved to 2-0 against the fifth-ranked Berdych, beating the Czech star 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday night to advance to the Citi Open quarterfinals.

Earlier, Steve Johnson knocked off another seeded, big-serving, NBA center-sized opponent, beating ninth-seeded Ivo Karlovic 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7).

Isner double faulted in the third set tiebreaker to set up Johnson with match point.

The same scenario played out Thursday, though not until Johnson fended off two match points to even the tiebreaker at 6-6.

Karlovic’s third double fault of the match gave Johnson an 8-7 lead.

In women’s second-round play, second-seeded Ekaterina Makarova beat Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-4; fifth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova topped Hiroko Kuwata 6-3, 6-3; sixth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 7-5; and Vania King routed Christina McHale 6-1, 6-3.