Tipsarevic Keeps Winning; Dimitrov Dismisses Kubot

© Daniela Frutiger/Fresh FocusGrigor Dimitrov reached his third semi-final since June.

World No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic kept up his winning run by beating Czech qualifier Jan Hernych to reach the semi-finals of the Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad on Friday. The top-seeded Serbian needed just 62 minutes to prevail 6-2, 6-1, breaking serve five times and dropping only six points on serve in the first set.

Tipsarevic won his first ATP World Tour clay-court crown last week at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart (d. Monaco) and has a 38-14 match record on the season. He is making his debut in Gstaad this week and nearly suffered a second-round exit at the hands of Austrian qualifier Martin Fischer, before advancing in three sets.

Tipsarevic next will face France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu, who reached his first ATP World Tour semi-final since September 2009 as he overcame Latvian Ernests Gulbis 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in one hour and 46 minutes. Former World No. 12 Mathieu has dropped to No. 172 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings after missing last season due to a knee injury. He lifted the Gstaad trophy in 2007 (d. Seppi).

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World No. 61 Grigor Dimitrov reached his third ATP World Tour semi-final since June as he dismissed Poland’s Lukasz Kubot 6-3, 6-2. The Bulgarian won 79 per cent of his service points and broke the No. 80-ranked Kubot on three occasions for victory in 62 minutes.

The 21-year-old Dimitrov reached his career first semi-final last month at the AEGON Championships in London (l. to Nalbandian) and followed up with a last-four showing at last week’s SkiStar Swedish Open (l. to Ferrer) in Bastad. He has an 18-11 match record on the season.

Dimitrov goes onto face Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci, who ousted fifth seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-3 to reach his second semi-final in as many weeks. The 24 year old, who was a semi-finalist last week in Stuttgart (l. to Tipsarevic), fired 10 aces and broke serve four times from eight opportunities in the 86-minute contest.

World No. 60 Bellucci won the title in Gstaad as a qualifier on his tournament debut in 2009, beating Andreas Beck in the final.