Top seeded Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei and fourth seed Michael Berrer of Germany won in contrasting styles to enter the last four stage of the event.

In the quarterfinal matches played today Frenchman Mathieu Montcourt kept up his giant killing spree recording his second consecutive upset accounting for second seeded and world ranked 70th Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6(7-5) ,6-0 in a match lasting 1hr 12 min . Yesterday the Frenchman had upset eighth seeded Japanese Go Soeda.

In a battle of namesakes, local star and sixth seeded Denis Istomin cheered by a large number of fans came from behind to topple world ranked 84th and the third seeded Denis Gremelmayer of Germany 4-6 , 7-6(7-4) ,6-2 in a 1hr 50 min tussle.

Top seeded Lu had to go through a close third set encounter for the second day running to overcome a fighting fifth seed and old warhorse Bjorn Phau of Germany 2-6,6-3,6-4 in a 1hr 55min tussle.

In a clash of left handers ,fourth seeded Michael Berrer had the easiest outing of the day, registering an easy 6-0, 6-4 win over Czech Republic’s Pavel Snobel in just 53 minutes.

In the semifinals tomorrow top seed Lu will take on fourth seeded Berrer, while the sixth seeded Istomin will take on unseeded Mathieu Montcourt for a place in the finals.

“I’m very proud the way I played today”,said Montcourt .I played a good tiebreak and started well in the second set , I was not expecting the result, beating a top 100 player like Dudi Sela is a good for me, he added

Montcourt had a few break points in the set first set, he finally broke Sela in the ninth game to lead 5-4, but Sela broke back immediately to level scores at 5-5. The match went until serves till the tie break at 6-6, in the tiebreak Montcourt showed tremendous nerves to belt two forehand winners at 5-4 and win the set.

Montcourt started the second set breaking Dudi Sela in the very second game and then held his game to lead 3-0. Sela just seemed to have lost his rhythm then on and surrendered the match. Sela was even given a point penalty at the end of the match for not trying.

In the best match of the day Denis Istomin , gave his fans a lot to rejoice making a solid come back from being one set down to register an emphatic win 4-6, 7-6(7-4),6-2 win over the world ranked 84th player Denis Gremelmayr .

In the first set both players exhibited great ground strokes on both flanks coupled with good serving, a lapse in concentration in the 9th game and two double faults, saw Istomin broken and go down a set.

But in the second set both players continued to hold serves till 6-6, Istomin played a good tiebreak, putting pressure on Gremelmayr’s back hand and committing him into making unforced errors. Istomin wrapped up the tie break 7-4 and also leveled set scores.

In the third set Istomin played percentage tennis, putting pressure on Gremelmayr who gave in with numerous unforced errors. Istomin served well to register a convincing 6-2 win in the decider, and make it to the last four.

“I’m thrilled with my win, I played confidently and want to thank all my fans for supporting me, he said after the match” Istomin said.

Following are the results Singles : Quarterfinals

S1 Yen Hsun Lu (Tpe) bt Bjorn Phau (Ger) 2-6,6-3,6-4
Michael Berrer (Ger) bt Pavel Snobel (Cze) 6-0,6-4
Denis Istomin (Uzb) bt Denis Gremelmayr (Ger) 4-6, 7-6(7-4),6-2
Mathieu Montcourt (Fra) bt Dudi Sela(Isr) 7-6(7-4) ,6-0

Doubles: Semi finals

S.4 Michail Elgin/ Alexandre Kudryatsev (Rus) bt S.1
Oliver Marach(Aut)/ Lukasz Kubot(Pol) 6-1, 7-6(7-1)
Flavio Cipolla (Ita) / Pavel Snobel (Cze) bt S.3 Michael
Kohlmann / Frank Moser(Ger) 6-4, 6-1