Istanbul, Turkey (SportsNetwork.com) - The top-three seeds, including former world No. 1 great Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov, notched quarterfinal victories Friday at the inaugural Istanbul Open.
The top-seeded Federer snuck past game Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 in 2 hours, 28 minutes on the red clay at Koza World of Sports Arena.
Federer recovered from a 2-5 deficit in the second set, but the recent Casablanca runner-up Gimeno-Traver regained his composure to win seven-of-nine points from 0-2 down in the tiebreak. With Gimeno-Traver serving at 3-4, 40-15 in the third set, Federer raised his game to set up his 19th match win of the season.
The 33-year-old Swiss icon Federer is seeking his third title of 2015, having reached three finals, including victories in Brisbane and Dubai.
His semifinal opponent will be eighth-seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman, who came from behind to upset fourth-seeded fellow South American Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 0-6, 6-2, 6-2, after Schwartzman lost the first eight games of the match.
"I have advanced to the first semifinal of my career," said Schwartzman. "I lost the first eight games. He started playing really well and maybe I was a little bit nervous. Sometimes it happens. The crowd was amazing for me. I hope tomorrow will be the same."
Meanwhile, the second-seeded Bulgarian star Dimitrov cruised past Croat Ivan Dodig 6-4, 6-3 to set-up a semifinal with No. 3 seed Pablo Cuevas, who handled fellow South American Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 7-5, 6-3 in Friday's nightcap.
This week's champion will pocket $89,000.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.