Ivo Karlovic defeats Andreas Seppi in first round of Erste Bank Open

Big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic hit 17 aces as he eased past Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 in the first round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on Monday.

The World No 20 held serve throughout and broke Seppi at 3-2 in the second set for the only break in the match.

Karlovic, who is seeded seventh in the tournament, holds the world record for aces and has now hit 10,306 in his career.

Earlier, Jiri Vesely of Czech Republic defeated Austrian wildcard entry Gerald Melzer 6-4 6-3.

The 40th-ranked Vesely will next play second-seeded Kevin Anderson or Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria.

Radek Stepanek won another Czech-Austrian duel, beating Dennis Novak 6-4 6-3, while Lukas Rosol became the third Czech player to advance after defeating Yuichi Sugita of Japan 6-4 7-6 (7-2).

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Also, Ernests Gulbis of Latvia ended his five-match losing streak by defeating Austrian qualifier Lucas Miedler 6-3 2-6 6-3.

Spanish star David Ferrer is the top-seeded player in the tournament, one year after losing to Scotland's Andy Murray in the final of the same event.

You can watch more live action from Round One of the Erne Bank Open on Sky Sports 1 HD on Tuesday, with coverage from 2:00pm.