Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Top seed Nicolas Almagro and five star Nikolay Davydenko were among Friday's quarterfinal losers at the $850,000 Malaysian Open, which is part of the Asian swing on the ATP World Tour.
The Spanish Almagro was ousted by eighth-seeded Japanese Kei Nishikori 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4, while third-seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic was leading the fifth-seeded Davydenko 3-1 when the Russian retired on the indoor hardcourts at Putra Stadium.
Davydenko captured the inaugural Malaysian Open title two years ago.
The U.S., Open quarterfinalist Tipsarevic and Nishikori will do battle in Saturday's semifinals in Kuala Lumpur. The world No. 17 Tipsarevic is already 4-0 against Nishikori this season.
Saturday's other semi will pit second-seeded Serb Viktor Troicki against unseeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. Troicki handled seventh-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-4, while the former Australian Open runner-up Baghdatis upended fourth-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).
The world No. 15 Troicki will appear in his first semifinal since February, while the wild card Baghdatis will compete in his second semifinal of 2011.
The newest Kuala Lumpur champion will collect $155,000.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.