GSTAAD (Switzerland), July 12: Gaston Gaudio of Argentina overcame a heavy cold and a considerable height disadvantage to end home hopes at the Swiss Open on Friday when he beat Marc Rosset 6-3 7-6 (7-3) in the quarter-finals.

Gaudio, a quarter of a metre smaller than the exceptionally tall Rosset who is around 2.0 metres, joined Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic in the semi-finals.

Ljubicic had earlier beaten Spain’s Galo Blanco in the opening quarter-final 6-3 7-6 (12-10) 6-4.

Gaudio, the seventh and highest-ranked surviving seed left in the tournament, had to dig deep to overcome the resurgent Rosset.

“It was a very tough game and he played a strong game,” said Gaudio, who relied on his accuracy from the baseline and greater variety to overcome Rosset’s serve-and-volley tactics.

“I only broke his serve once in the whole match and that tells you.”

Gaudio, who almost withdrew from the tournament earlier in the week when he felt particularly ill, said: “I felt okay, not brilliant and I played some pretty good tennis out there. But I need to take a rest.”

Rosset, 31, a wild card entry, was the last of the five Swiss entrants to go out, but said he felt encouraged by his own revived enthusiasm and form in the sweltering conditions.

Many of his serves measured over 200 kph while Gaudio struggled to exceed 170 kph.

In the opening quarter-final, Ljubicic’s superior height and confidence enabled him to overcome Blanco whose poor record this year continued. Despite Spain’s exceptional record in this event, he seemed to lack any kind of inspiration.

He mounted a comeback to win the second set in a lengthy tie-break, but failed to sustain his best patches of form and was ultimately out-powered by a younger, taller and stronger man.

The win secured Ljubicic’s first semifinal on the ATP tour after three previous losing quarter-finals this year.

The remaining two quarter-finals, between Spaniards Alex Corretja and David Sanchez and Hungary’s Attila Savolt and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, were to start later Friday.

Results: (prefix number denotes seeding):

Quarterfinals: Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) beat Atilla Savolt (Hungary) 7-5 6-2; 8-Alex Corretja (Spain) beat David Sanchez (Spain) 6-3 6-3; 7-Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) beat Marc Rosset (Switzerland) 6-3 7-6 (7-3); Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat Galo Blanco (Spain) 6-3 6-7 (10-12) 6-4—Reuters