Frank Dancevic ended a run of three-straight losses to Dmitry Tursunov, upsetting the top seed 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 to reach the semi-finals of the ATP hard court event on Friday.
His test against third seed Sam Querrey, a winner over French No. 7 Marc Gicquel 6-4, 7-5, will be a show of strength between two big hitting rising stars. Querrey hammered 19 aces in the win over Gicquel.
The Canadian won their only other meeting in Sydney two years ago, but Querrey has his eye on the prize this weekend.
PHOTO: AFP
“I might be favored as the seed, but everybody can play,” said the 22-year-old, who is shadowed at US events by an informal support group of “Samurai” friends complete with body paint and screams of support every time their man makes a winning shot. “I like my chances through, I’m playing well, but Frank is also playing great. This is my third year of reaching the semi-finals, I’m finally hoping to make the jump into the final.”
At the bottom of the draw, 2005 champion Robby Ginepri returned to his glory days by beating fellow American Alex Bogomolov 7-5, 6-1.
Ginepri will play John Isner, who defeated Wayne Odesnik 7-5, 7-5 in the longest match of the tournament at more than two and a half hours. Russian Tursunov, who lives in California, had beaten Dencevic in the final on grass at Eastbourne the week before Wimbledon.
PHOTO: REUTERS
He has also defeated Dancevic in the final at Indianapolis two years ago after winning their first meeting at Queen’s Club in London in 2007.
“This is my first hard court week and I felt a bit nervous, but I’ve been playing well from the first round,” said 24-year-old Dancevic, the world No. 121. “I’m glad I was able to play solid against Dmitry and close it out.”
Dancevic fired nine aces, with 29 winners and three breaks of the patchy Tursunov serve.
The Canadian began imposing himself on the match in the third game of the second set when a Tursunov double-fault led to a break for 2-1, the margin enough to eventually level the sets.
In the third, the man from Niagara Falls took control to run out the winner during a week when he duplicated his 2007 habit of driving to Indiana from his home on the US-Canadian border with his girlfriend.
Dancevic ended a string of success for Tursunov at the tournament where the No. 27 won in 2007, before losing the final a year ago to Gilles Simon.
“He started getting hold of my serve in the second set,” Tursunov said. “I had chances in the second set tie-breaker, but I couldn’t convert them. He got lots of free points — he served well. I didn’t.”
■GERMAN OPEN
REUTERS, BERLIN
Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas reached his second tour semi-final of what looks to be his breakthrough season on Friday when he swept past Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-2, 6-4 at the German Open in Hamburg.
Cuevas will meet Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu who led 3-0 in the first set against Viktor Troicki before the Serb retired with a foot injury.
World No. 107 Cuevas sailed through the first set, his lethal topspin backhand landing him two breaks against an opponent ranked 67 places above him.
Last year’s French Open doubles champion then got the break he wanted in the fifth game of the second set, saving two break points in the next game to hold serve and go 4-2 up.
The 23-year-old comfortably held on to his lead to win the match four games later.
In the other half of the draw, second seed Nikolay Davydenko edged past Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to book his spot in the last four where he meets Spaniard David Ferrer.
Davydenko carved out an advantage early on when he broke Hanescu in the first game and held serve to go 2-0 up. He again broke the Romanian, runner-up in Stuttgart last week, to clinch the first set 6-3.
The 28-year-old, without a tournament win this season, served superbly for a set and a half, allowing no single break opportunity for Hanescu, who hung in though to clinch the second set with a solitary break at 2-2.
Davydenko, who has only played a handful of tournaments because of a heel injury early in the year, recovered in the third set, firing a string of baseline winners to break his 28-year-old opponent and clinch victory on his fifth match point.
“It is a good result for me, because I have not played a lot this year. Hanescu played in the final in Stuttgart, so this was very hard for me,” Davydenko said.
Sixth seed Ferrer was the last man to clinch his semi-final spot, ousting German wild card entrant Simon Greul 6-2, 6-3.
■GASTEIN LADIES
AP, BAD GASTEIN, AUSTRIA
Top-seeded Alize Cornet beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 on Friday to reach her first semi-final of the season at the Nuernberger Gastein Ladies.
The 28th-ranked Frenchwoman then served flawlessly and converted both break points in the deciding set.
Cornet, the only seeded player left in the draw, had not won two straight matches since February.
In the semi-finals, Cornet will play Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania, who defeated No. 6 Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-4 for her first semi-final in two years.
Earlier on Friday, Andrea Petkovic rallied to beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-1 and advanced to her first career semi-final.
The seventh-seeded Groenefeld, who reached the final four in Palermo last week, hit 11 double faults. She won only six points on serve in the decider.
The 98th-ranked Petkovic will play Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, who beat 2007 finalist Yvonne Meusburger of Austria 6-2, 6-3.
■SLOVENIA OPEN
REUTERS, PORTOROZ, SLOVENIA
World No. 1 Dinara Safina charged into the Slovenia Open semi-finals by crushing Italian Maria Elena Camerin 6-3, 6-0 on Friday.
“I raised my level in the second set. I played much better, much more aggressive ... I was very focused today and played some good tennis,” the Russian told Slovenian Sport television.
Safina never looked back after reeling off the first three games of the match.
Camerin, 100th in the rankings, had no chance as her powerful opponent kept up her record of not dropping a set in the tournament.
Safina next faces Italy’s Alberta Brianti after she put out France’s Camille Pin 6-3, 6-2.
Swiss Stefanie Voegele ousted Rossana De Los Rios of Paraguay 6-1, 6-1 and next meets holder Sara Errani of Italy who breezed to a 6-1, 6-1 triumph over Croatia’s Petra Martic.
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