ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP)—Janko Tipsarevic will take on Alex Bogomolov Jr. in the semifinals of the St. Petersburg Open after both men maintained their good form in Russia on Friday.
Second-seeded Tipsarevic, who won his second title at the Kremlin Cup on Sunday, rallied to beat Potito Starace 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-1. Seventh-seeded Bogomolov, who reached the quarterfinals in Moscow, beat Serbian qualifier Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 6-1.
“I haven’t played Tipsarevic for a long time,” said Bogomolov, who beat him in three sets in Tokyo in 2004. “But I do not expect any surprises from him tomorrow.”
Later, fourth-seeded Marin Cilic advanced to his third semifinal this season after rallying to beat Andreas Seppi 4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4.
Seppi, who won his first title in Eastbourne, England, in June, broke twice in the first set, but Cilic saved a match point on a second-set tiebreaker and converted a set point to stay in the match. The 22nd-ranked Croat broke decisively in the ninth game of the third set and fired his 13th ace of the match to finish it in the next game.
Cilic advanced to the final three times from nine quarterfinals he has reached this season, but is yet to win.
In the semifinals, he will play either fifth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, or Adrian Mannarino of France.
Starace won four straight points in the tiebreaker to take the first set but the 13th-ranked Tipsarevic reeled off four consecutive games in the second set and five more in the third to secure his eighth semifinal appearance this season.
“The problem (in the first set) was that I didn’t use my chances. I had two set points in the tiebreaker,” Tipsarevic said. “It’s same like in football— if you don’t score the other guy is going to score. But then in the second set, when I made the break at 3-2 to 4-2, everything changed, I started feeling more relaxed and the match finished pretty fast.”
Tipsarevic landed 12 aces in the match and is 7-2 in quarterfinals this season.
Bogomolov, still looking for his first ATP title, broke Lajovic twice in the first set and three times in the second for his second consecutive victory over the 228th-ranked Serb.
The Russian-born American also beat Lajovic in the first round at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow last week. Lajovic was playing in his first ATP quarterfinal.
It is the second time this year that Bogomolov has reached a semifinal. He also made the final four in Los Angeles in June.