Marin Cilic has secured a place in the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open following a tough a 7-5 6-7(3) 7-6(5) victory over Tommy Robredo.

The 12th seed, who faced Robredo for the first time on clay, started strongly on his service games, but eventually suffered a break, as did Robredo to keep things tight in the first set.

Cilic was able to see out the set to take the lead, but once again it was a close contest when the players returned for the second set.

Games went by the way of serve as Cilic, who unleashed four aces, was pushed into a tie-break from Robredo, who was able to edge out his opponent 7-3 to take the second set.

In the third set, Robredo took an early break of serve, but Cilic broke back to level 3-3 as the set moved to a deciding tie-break, which ended in the 12th seed's favour 7-5.