Bogotá, Bogota, Colombia, 24 July 2015 | AAP/tennis.com.au

Defending champion Bernard Tomic is through to the quarterfinals of the ATP Claro Open Colombia in Bogota.

Meanwhile, a hectic travel schedule may have finally caught up with Sam Groth, with the big-serving Australian losing in straight sets to Radek Stepanek in the second round.

Tomic, the tournament’s second seed who received a first-round bye, subdued Spaniard Adrian Menendez-Maceiras in three sets on Thursday.

His 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4 victory, helped along by 18 aces, sets up a quarterfinal showdown with Japan’s Tatsuma Ito.

Groth, who has bounced from Wimbledon to Darwin to produce his Davis Cup heroics and then straight to Colombia within a month, fell 6-4 6-0 to the Czech world No.369 on Thursday.

Currently ranked 64th in the world, Groth starred alongside Lleyton Hewitt to lead Australia to a stirring come-from-behind 3-2 win over Kazakhstan last week.

In his first-round win over Argentina’s Guido Pella, the 193cm-right hander served 26 aces, including 11 in the decisive third set, to set up the Stepanek duel.