Dodig Stuns Ljubicic, Faces Garcia-Lopez In SFs; Mayer Ends Cilic Reign

© Sime SokotaIvan Dodig ousted second seed and 2006 champion Ivan Ljubicic.

Third seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ended the campaign of Alex Bogomolov Jr. at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors as he reached the semi-finals with a 6-2, 7-6(6) victory over the American qualifier on Friday.

Garcia-Lopez broke serve twice to clinch the first set, but was held by Bogomolov Jr. in the second set as the qualifier, who had ousted seventh seed Philipp Petzschner in the second round, twice rallied from a break down to force a tie-break. Garcia-Lopez held strong, though, to claim victory on his second match point in the tie-break after one hour and 38 minutes.

The Spaniard is up to a career-high World No. 29 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings after beginning the year with a quarter-final showing in Doha (l. to Tsonga) and a third-round effort at the Australian Open (l. to Murray). He last reached an ATP World Tour semi-final in Bangkok in October, when he defeated World No. 1 Rafael Nadal en route to winning his first title (d. Nieminen).

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For a place in the final Garcia-Lopez will face Ivan Dodig, who prevailed in an all-Croatian contest with second seed Ivan Ljubicic, 6-4, 6-4. World No. 84 Dodig hit eight aces and saved all four break points he faced to dismiss the 2006 Zagreb champion in one hour and 49 minutes.

The 26-year-old Dodig, who was the only player to take a set off Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open (in the second round), is through to his career-first ATP World Tour semi-final.

Fifth seed Florian Mayer brought to an end Marin Cilic’s two-year reign in Zagreb as he ousted the top-seeded Croatian 6-3, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the ATP World Tour 250 indoor hard-court tennis tournament.

The 22-year-old Cilic had been on an 11-match winning streak in Zagreb, after winning back-to-back titles in 2009 (d. Ancic) and 2010 (d. Berrer), but lost serve three times as he was beaten by the No. 38-ranked Mayer in 80 minutes. Mayer also won their only previous meeting in the first round of Wimbledon last year.

"I knew I had a good chance and that he does not like my game," said Mayer. "I was pretty nervous before the match, but my serve was really good and I'm really happy with the way I played. He never knows what shot am going to play so that makes it difficult for him."

The 27-year-old Mayer has made a strong start to the season and is through to his second ATP World Tour semi-final, after also reaching the last four in Sydney (l. to Troicki). He improved to a 9-3 match record.

Mayer next will face German eighth seed Michael Berrer, who reached the semi-finals when fourth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet was forced to retire with a right shoulder injury; Berrer had been leading 5-2. World No. 66 Berrer reached his maiden ATP World Tour final in Zagreb last year, when he finished runner-up to Cilic.

"I think it will be a 50-50 match in the semi," assessed Mayer. "It will be a different match - Michael is a lot more attacking. We know each other very well and it's a good chance for us to get to a final."