St. Petersburg Open—Russia

After reaching his second quarterfinal of the season, Ernests Gulbis failed to advance to his first semifinal of the year, losing in straight sets to clay-court specialist Horacio Zeballos 7-6 (8), 6-4.

Zeballos, who has spent the greater part of his year winning five Challenger finals, while making three finals, persevered through a tough opening set that saw both men win 81 percent of their first serve points, while squandering one break point opportunity.

With the first set in hand, Zeballos captured the lone break of serve by either player in the seventh game of the second set to close out his powerful Latvian opponent.

Zeballos' rise to the upper ranks of the ATP World Tour is surprising to say the least. As mentioned, the Argentine had amassed a win-loss mark of 1-3 on the year coming into St. Petersburg, but due to his incredible Challenger level record, which stands at 49-14, Zeballos has managed to build up his ranking to a profitable world No. 54.

With the majority of his results coming on clay, Zeballos' march to the semifinals of the St. Petersburg Open (which is played on hard court) becomes a fascinating story to say the least.

The Argentine's rise of 142 places in the rankings from the beginning of the season has been aided by his strong forehand and reputable first serve.

The 24-year-old Mar de Plata native also possesses a consistent return of serve, which was on display on Friday. Zeballos also withstood 18 aces from Gulbis to advance in one hour and 31 minutes.

With the win, Zeballos improved to 4-3 on the season, while Gulbis, who is still in search of his first career title, fell to 20-26 on the year.

Zeballos will await the winner of either No. 2 seed Victor Hanescu or Russian hopeful Igor Kunitysn in the semifinals.

Hanescu and Kunitysn will be contesting their first ever ATP World Tour level match on Friday.

Elsewhere, 2008 Zagreb winner Sergiy Stakhovsky progressed to his first Tour semifinal of the season, ousting speedy German Bjorn Phau, 6-2, 7-5.

The one hour and 29 minute match featured more of a baseline duel than a serving contest. Both men, who possess potent backhand wings, utilized their best shot to set up numerous net approaches.

After converting on three of five break points opportunities in the first set, Stakhovsky was made to work hard in the second set, gaining a critical break of serve at 6-5 to close out the match.

Phau, who was attempting to reach his second semifinal of the season (Houston), fell to 12-17 on the year.

Stakhovsky will next face either Marat Safin or Denis Istomin in the semifinals.

"It's always nice to win, and I think today I produced the best tennis that I could to win," said Stakhovsky.

"It was pleasing to win a tough close match."

Safin, who defeated close friend Igor Andreev in second round action on Wednesday, will be facing Istomin for the first time on Friday.

Safin is in search of his first title of the year, which will also be his last on tour.

 

Bank Austria Tennis Trophy—Vienna

Top seed Marin Cilic made quick work of his opponent Feliciano Lopez on Friday, defeating the Spaniard 6-1, 6-4 in quarterfinal action.

Cilic, who is in search of his third ATP World Tour title of the season, won 69 percent of his total service points and struck eight aces in the one hour and 24 minute encounter.

By contrast, Lopez, who was in search of his second semifinal in the past month (Shanghai), failed to capitalize on his two break point chances and hit an uncharacteristic five double faults.

With the win, Cilic improved to 43-18 on the year and will now head to the semifinals to take on No. 4 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Kohlschreiber leveled his head-to-head against his opponent No. 5 seed Nicolas Almagro, defeating the Spaniard in two tight sets, 7-5, 6-4.

After breaking Almagro's serve at 5-6 in the opening set, Kohlschreiber sustained his consistent ground game to break his opponent in the seventh game of the second set, closing out the match in one hour and 16 minutes.

The win for Kohlschreiber improved his season record to 40-21, while the loss for Almagro dropped his win-loss mark to 29-22.

Kohlschreiber, who remains in search of his fist title of the year, will take a 3-1 head-to-head lead over Cilic to the semifinals.

The pair last met at the Madrid Masters 1000 in May, a match which Kohlschreiber won 7-6 in the third set. Cilic's lone victory over Kohlschreiber came in Munich earlier this year, with the lanky 6'6" Croat demolishing his German opponent in straight sets.

Elsewhere, the home-country hopeful remained confident that an Austrian player will succeed in Vienna this year after No. 7 seed Jurgen Melzer dismantled No. 2 seed Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-2 in quarterfinal action.

Melzer, who reached his highest career ranking of No. 25 in the world (May 2009), was at the top of his game throughout the one hour and one minute shellacking.

Stepanek's bread and butter net attacking style did not fluster Melzer throughout either set. The Austrian's compact return of serve was up to the task of defusing his Czech opponent's net rushes, capitalizing on three of seven break point opportunities for the match.

Melzer, who won 81 percent of his total service points, struck eight aces and allowed only break point against his delivery in the first set.

The left-handed Deutsch-Wagram native improved to 34-29 on the year, while Stepanek, who was in search of his third title of the season, fell to 41-18.

Melzer will now await the winner of the day's last match, which will feature No. 3 seed Gael Monfils vs. Janko Tipsarevic.

Monfils will be motivated to continue his quest for one of the two remaining spots in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London (he currently stands at 15), while Tipsarevic will be eager to maintain his form which saw him advance to his first maiden Tour final last week in Moscow. The pair currently stand at one win apiece in the head-to-head.

 

Grand Prix Tennis de Lyon—France

No. 3 seed Ivan Ljubicic, the lone non-French player left in the field, advanced to his first semifinal of the year, defeating Florent Serra 7-6 (8), 6-2.

With both men failing to break serve in the first set, a deciding tiebreak would decide the victor. After both players held set points in the tiebreak, the more powerful Croatian used his serving arsenal to gain control.

Ljubicic, who blasted 16 aces throughout the contest, gained complete momentum in the second set after his demoralized opponent began to falter with his serve.

After saving four of four break point chances in the first set, the diminutive Frenchmen was broken on two occasions in the second set. As a result, Serra fell to 23-28 in the process.

Ljubicic, who was once ranked as high as No. 3 in the world (May 2006), was pleased with his recent form of late, which saw him reach the quarterfinals or better of his last three events.

"It's a great feeling to get into my first semifinal of the year," admitted Ljubicic.

"But still, I've played four quarterfinals in the [ATP World Tour] Masters 1000 events, so it hasn't been too bad. If I can finish the year in the Top 20, that will be a really good year for me. I feel like I am getting back to where I belong with my ranking.

"I'm feeling good on the court again. I started to feel much better the week of Metz and had played well in Asia, so I'm just trying to keep it going for the last few tournaments of the year."

Ljubicic will now await the winner of top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against Arnaud Clement.

The all-French battle will feature the duo's first career meeting in the French suburb.

Tsonga, who remains a strong candidate to reach the Tour finale in London, has won three titles this year on the ATP World Tour.

Clement, by contrast, who is in the twilight of his career, will hope to build on his quarterfinal finish in Stockholm last week.

Elsewhere, No. 2 seed Gilles Simon progressed to his fourth quarterfinal of the season on Friday, defeating last year's finalist Julien Benneteau 7-5, 6-3.

Simon, who like Tsonga holds an opportunity to travel to London, put forth a spectacular serving performance by winning 94 percent of his first serve points (33-35), while striking six aces in the one hour and 23 minute contest.

Benneteau, who possesses a crafty all-court game, fell to 24-26 on the year after attempting to reach his second straight final in Lyon. 

Simon will now take a 3-0 head-to-head deficit against his next opponent, Michael Llodra in the semifinals.

Llodra defeated two-time finalist Marc Gicquel 7-6 (5), 6-4 earlier on Friday.

Llodra, who broke his countryman on two of three occasions, maintained his own serving prowess throughout the one hour and 26 minute victory, winning 83 percent of his first serve, while striking 13 aces.

With the win, Llodra improved to 16-14 on the year and will attempt to reach his second Tour-level final of the season on Saturday. Llodra lost a highly contested final in Marseille to Tsonga in February.

 

Please check back on Saturday for a semifinal wrap-up from St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Lyon.

Cheers.

Quotes courtesy of theatpworldtour.com