Seppi, Monaco ousted in Dusseldorf QFs

Dusseldorf, Germany (SportsNetwork.com) - Third-seeded Andreas Seppi and defending champion Juan Monaco came up quarterfinal losers Thursday at the Dusseldorf Open.

Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin upended the Italian Seppi 6-3, 6-4, while seventh- seeded 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic doused the unseeded Argentine Monaco 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 at Rochusclub.

Monaco beat Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in last year's inaugural finale here.

Also on Day 5, Czech Jiri Vesely whipped Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 6-1 and top-seeded German favorite Philipp Kohlschreiber was leading Croatian qualifier Mate Delic 7-5, 4-4 when play was suspended. Vesely will meet Karlovic the semifinals on Friday.

Rain interrupted action Thursday at this final French Open tune-up.

The other semi will pit Istomin against the Kohlschreiber-Delic winner.