Veteran giant Karlovic beats teen at Maharashtra Open

Pune - Veteran Croatian Ivo Karlovic, two months from his 40th birthday, overcame a rising player less than half his age Tuesday to reach the second round of the ATP Maharashtra Open.

Using all his 2.11 metres (six feet 11 inches) height, Karlovic hit 13 aces as he disposed of 18-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 7-5 at the Indian tournament.

The world number 100 set up a second-round encounter against Russian Evgeny Donskoy.

Number five seed Benoit Paire, who has reached the semi-finals three times, beat Brazilian Thiago Monteiro 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.

The Frenchman will now play Czech Jiri Vesely who in turn beat French qualifier Antoine Hoang 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Ramkumar Ramanathan is the last remaining Indian hope after coming back to beat Marcel Granollers of Spain 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.