St. Petersburg, Russia – Top seed and former champion Mikhail Youzhny was a hard-fought quarterfinal winner Friday at the St. Petersburg Open.
The long-time Russian favorite got past seventh-seeded Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 in 2 hours, 6 minutes on the indoor hardcourts at SCC Peterburgsky.
The former top-10 star Youzhny titled in St. Petersburg in 2004 and was the runner-up in 2002 and 2010.
Youzhny's semifinal opponent on Saturday will be third-seeded rising Slovak Martin Klizan, who blew past Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis 6-3, 6-2 in 66 minutes on Day 5.
Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini topped Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) and Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver reached his first ATP semifinal in more than two years by beating Italian Flavio Cipolla 6-2, 7-5. Fognini and Gimeno-Traver will clash in Saturday's other semi.
The 2012 St. Petersburg champion will earn $70,365.
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