ROTTERDAM: Ivan Ljubicic needed 18 aces and two tiebreaks to post a win over Marcos Baghdatis Friday, advancing 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/4) against the Cypriot into the semi-finals of the ATP Rotterdam tournament.
Ljubicic renewed his long-ago promise to buy every fan in the stands a drink should he reach another Dutch title match and claim the victory.
“It’s a long way but I’m sticking to my promise,” said the 15th-ranked Croatian, owner of ten career trophys and loser in four of five meetings with Baghdatis.
“But the stadium has 5,000 more seats than it did back then,” he joked in reference to a 2010 overhaul which added around 1,500 places in the hall.
Ljubicic is unworried by the extra rest time enjoyed by upcoming opponent Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who advanced without stepping onto court when fourth-seeded opponent Tomas Berdych retired before their match with influenza.
“It’s early in the afternoon,” said Ljubicic, seeded seventh, after he put out Baghdatis in just under two-and-a-half hours. “I’ll have plenty of time to rest. “I know we will both go for our shots, it should be a great match.”
The Croatian won the first set against Baghdatis after overcoming a few early errors and profitting from miscues from his opponent.
Top seed Robin Soderling will hope to take a step closer to a title defence when he plays a later quarter-final against another former winner in sixth seed Mikhail Youzhny.
Soderling made a narrow escape Thursday in his win over Philipp Kohlschreiber. Soderling saved a match point before defeating Kohlschreiber 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (9/7).
The win took the Swede’s record this season to 10-1 while also securing a first career victory over the German after losing all three of their previous matches.
Soderling was made to work by Kohlschreiber, having to come back from a break in the third set and saving a match point in the tiebreaker. He finally claimed victory after 2 hours 22 minutes on his third match point after firing 16 aces to a dozen for the German.
Youzhny, the Russian sixth seed, eliminated the last Dutchman in the field, putting out Thiemo de Bakker 6-4, 6-4 to improve to 13-5 lifetime at the tournament. In the last quarter-final, Croatian Marin Cilic faces Serb Viktor Troicki.
