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8/22/08 5:47 AM | Ricky Dimon
Qualifier Luka Gregorc will contest his first-ever ATP semifinal in New Haven on Friday against Marin Cilic. Will the dream week continue?
That 19-year-old phenom Marin Cilic is in the Pilot Pen semifinal is no surprise. The presence of his opponent, on the other hand, is nothing less than shocking.
Luka Gregorc, a relative unknown player ranked 434th in the world, is in the midst of a career week. The 24-year-old from Slovenia first had to win three matches just to qualify for the New Haven main draw. He did that and then things really got crazy. Gregorc dispatched Ramon Delgado in straight sets, rolled over No. 14 seed Jose Acasuso in the second round, stunned second-seeded Ivo Karlovic for a spot in the quarterfinals, and finally upset No. 7 seed Andreas Seppi 7-5 in the third to get where he is now. Prior to this week he had an 0-1 match record at the ATP level in 2008.
Not surprisingly, this will be Gregorc's first-ever encounter with Cilic.
The 6'6'' Croat, ranked 31st in the world, upset Andy Roddick en route to a quarterfinal appearance at the Masters Series Canada last month, but he has failed to build on that momentum since then. Cilic lost to Nicolas Lapentti in the Cincinnati first round before getting crushed by Fernando Gonzalez in the second round of the Olympics. But the No. 6 seed has turned things back around this week. He got past Viktor Troicki (via retirement) and Jurgen Mezler (7-5 in the third set) before thrashing Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
Is Gregorc a man of destiny this week? That would be the only reason to think he has any chance of pulling off yet another shocking upset. As long as Cilic serves well and puts the clamps down on his opponent early, the Cinderella story should end in the semifinals.
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