For only the 13th time since 1980, two qualifiers will feature in the semi-finals at the same ATP World Tour tournament. Qualifiers Mikhail Kukushkin and Illya Marchenko booked their places in the Kremlin Cup semi-finals with victories over high-ranked opponents on Friday.

Kazakhstani Kukushkin, fought back from a 1-4 deficit in the third set against fifth seed Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory in two hours and eight minutes.  World No. 157 Kukushkin, with a 6-4 tour-level match record this year, will contest his first ATP World Tour semi-final on Saturday.  He also beat Cuevas at the 2008 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell.

"This is the best win of my career," declared Kukushkin. "I kept fighting even when I was 4-1 down in the final set. It was like my first round against Fabio Fognini, when I was 4-2 down in the final set."

Ukrainian Marchenko, currently No. 190 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, knocked out Russian Evgeny Korolev 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 36 minutes for a place in his first ATP World Tour semi-final. 

"I kept believing in myself, that’s what I have been doing the last few months," said Marchenko. "In the first set I was just too nervous and not used to the court. It was the first time I had played an ATP World Tour main-draw match on Centre Court. After I lost the first set 6-0, I still believed I could win."

The 22-year-old Marchenko improved to a 4-3 tour-level record this year.  He won an ATP Challenger Tour event at Istanbul (d. F. Mayer) in August.  World No. 51 Korolev, runner-up to Mardy Fish at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships in March, dropped to a 16-17 mark on the season.

It will be the first time since 1997 that two qualifiers will contest semi-final matches at the Kremlin Cup, an ATP World Tour 250 indoor hard-court tennis tournament. The last time it happened on the ATP World Tour circuit was at the 2007 Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch.

Third seed Mikhail Youzhny prevented a third qualifier from advancing when he defeated Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 6-3 in 71 minutes. The Russian countered losing his own serve twice by converting five of nine break points, also winning 82 per cent of points on his first serve. He goes on to face Kukushkin.

"I think I played good today, but I had some ups and downs losing my concentration a couple of times," said Youzhny. "I think I had the advantage as he was thinking about St. Petersburg, whether he would get a special exempt into the main draw or play in the qualifying."

The 27-year-old Youzhny, twice a runner-up this season at the BMW Open (l. to Berdych) in Munich and Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships (l. to Tsonga) in Tokyo, is through to the Moscow semi-finals for the second time (l. to Davydenko in 2004). The Muscovite is bidding to win his second ATP World Tour title on home soil after triumphing at the St. Petersburg Open in 2004 (d. Beck). 

In the remaining quarter-final match, sixth-seeded Serbian Janko Tipsarevic reached his first ATP World Tour semi-final in two years, after he defeated American Robby Ginepri 6-3, 6-3 in 72 minutes.  Tipsarevic won 76 per cent of service points and hit 10 aces to reverse a two-match losing streak against Ginepri, who had previously won clashes at 2004 Wimbledon and 2006 AEGON Championships in London.

“It is such a big win for me as I had lost to him every time we played," said Tipsarevic. "I usually complicate things for myself on court but today I did everything well. My new coach (Dirk Hordorff) has helped me to find a way to express my game."

Tipsarevic improved to a 25-22 match record on the season and will next contest his first semi-final since the 2007 Kremlin Cup in Moscow (l. to Davydenko).  Ginepri, 27, who captured his third ATP World Tour title at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships (d. Querrey) in July, dropped to 13-20 on the year. 

Tipsarevic, Marchenko and Kukushkin will all be hoping to reach their first ATP World Tour final on Saturday. While Youzhny is the last Russian representative remaining in the draw, three of the four semi-finalists are from the former Soviet Union.