INDIANAPOLIS (Indiana), July 25 Unseeded Canadian Frank Dancevic upset top-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 3-6, 7-6, 6-2 in the quarter-finals at the Indianapolis Championships on Friday.

Dancevic lost to Tursunov in the 2007 final at Indianapolis and is looking for his first ATP title.

“It's nice to get a victory over him,” said Dancevic, who had lost the previous three meetings to the 27th-ranked Russian. “I'm glad I played a solid match.”

Tursunov captured the first set but could not recover after losing the second set tie-break.

“I had chances...but I couldn't convert them” Tursunov said. “He got lots of free points. He served well, I didn't.”

Dancevic will meet third-seeded Sam Querrey of the US in the semi-finals after the American beat seventh-seeded Marc Gicquel of France 6-4, 7-5.

“This is my third year of reaching the semi-finals I'm finally hoping to make the jump into the final,” Querrey stated.

American Robby Ginepri, who beat compatriot Alex Bogomolov Jr 7-5 6-1, will meet John Isner in the second semi-final after Isner overcame Wayne Odesnik 7-5, 6-7, 7-5.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding)

Quarter-finals John Isner (US) bt Wayne Odesnik (US) 7-5, 6-7(2), 7-5; 3-Sam Querrey (US) bt 7-Marc Gicquel (France) 6-4, 7-5; Robby Ginepri (US) bt Alex Bogomolov Jr (US) 7-5, 6-1; Frank Dancevic (Canada) bt 1-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2.

Almagro stunned

HAMBURG Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas reached his second tour semi-final of what looks to be his breakthrough season on Friday when he swept past Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-2, 6-4 at the German Open.

Cuevas will meet Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu who led 3-0 in the first set against Viktor Troicki before the Serb retired with a foot injury.

World number 107 Cuevas sailed through the first set, his lethal topspin backhand landing him two breaks against an opponent ranked 67 places above him.

The 2008 French Open doubles champion then got break he wanted in the fifth game of the second set, saving two break points in the next game to hold serve and go 4-2 up.

The 23-year-old comfortably held on to his lead to win the match four games later.

In the other half of the draw, second seed Nikolay Davydenko edged past Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to book his spot in the last four where he meets Spaniard David Ferrer.

Davydenko carved out an advantage early on when he broke Hanescu in the first game and held serve to go 2-0 up. He again broke the Romanian, runner-up in Stuttgart last week, to clinch the first set 6-3.

The 28-year-old, without a tournament win this season, served superbly for a set and a half allowing no single break opportunity for Hanescu, who hung in though to clinch the second set with a solitary break at 2-2.

Davydenko, who has only played a handful of tournaments due to a heel injury early in the year, recovered in the third set, firing a string of baseline winners to break his 28-year-old opponent and clinch victory on his fifth match point.

“It is a good result for me because I have not played a lot this year. Hanescu played in the final in Stuttgart so this was very hard for me,” stated Davydenko.

Sixth seed Ferrer was the last man to clinch his semi-final spot ousting German wild card entrant Simon Greul 6-2, 6-3.

Results

Quarter-finals 6-David Ferrer (Spain) bt Simon Greul (Germany) 6-2, 6-3; 2-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) bt 11-Victor Hanescu (Romania) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; 13-Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) bt 10-Viktor Troicki (Serbia) 3-0 (Troicki retired); Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) bt 14-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 6-2, 6-4.

Safina into semis

PORTOROZ (Slovenia) World number one Dinara Safina charged into the Slovenia Open semi-finals by crushing Italian Maria Elena Camerin 6-3, 6-0 on Friday.

“I raised my level in the second set. I played much better, much more aggressive. I was very focused today and played some good tennis,” the Russian said.

Safina never looked back after reeling off the first three games of the match.

Camerin, 100th in the rankings, had no chance as her powerful opponent kept up her record of not dropping a set in the tournament.

Results

Quarter-finals 5-Sara Errani (Italy) bt Petra Martic (Croatia) 6-1, 6-1; 1-Dinara Safina (Russia) bt Maria Elena Camerin (Italy) 6-3, 6-0; Stefanie Voegele (Switzerland) bt Rossana De Los Rios (Paraguay) 6-1, 6-1; Alberta Brianti (Italy) bt Camille Pin (France) 6-3, 6-2.—Reuters