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2/7/09 12:54 AM | Ricky Dimon
Hometown favorites Mario Ancic and Marin Cilic reach the semifinals of the PBZ Zagreb Indoors on Friday. They are joined in the last four by Jan Hernych.
Mario Ancic d. Ivan Dodig 6-1, 6-3
Dodig's dream week in Croatia came to a crashing halt at the hands of fellow Croat Ancic on Friday night in the quarterfinals. Ranked 425th in the world, Dodig stunned No. 1 seed Igor Andreev in the first round and Ernests Gulbis in the second. Ancic, however, was a whole different beast. He allowed his opponent just one game in the first set, breaking three times in four tries and saving one break point en route to a 6-1 domination. Dodig managed to stay on serve until 3-4 in the second, but Ancic then prevailed in a long game in which he had plenty of break chances. One final routine service game finished off the match for Ancic in one hour and 22 minutes. Next up for the No. 29 player in the world is Jan Hernych.
Jan Hernych d. Mischa Zverev 5-4, ret.
Zverev could not recover from a thrilling second-round win over Victor Hanescu, although it was apparently due to sickness more than fatigue. A day earlier, Zverev saved five match points before outlasting Hanescu 9-7 in a third-set tiebreaker. The German, despite feeling ill, stayed on serve with Hernych until 4-4 in the first set. He saved the first four break points he faced, but Hernych finally capitalized on his fifth opportunity for a 5-4 lead. That's when Zverev called it quits, giving Hernych a relatively free pass into the Zagreb semifinals.
Marin Cilic d. Antonio Veic 6-2, 7-6(6)
Like Dodig, Veic also saw his surprising run to the quarterfinals end at the hands of a heavily-favored Croat. This battle between countrymen, however, was far more competitive even though Cilic really had control the whole time. In the first set it looked like the match would be a blowout, as Cilic used two breaks of serve to take the opening frame of play 6-2. The No. 2 seed only lost six points in four service games and did not face a single break point. After exchanging early breaks in set two, Cilic had plenty of chances to run away with the match, but Dodig remained strong against overwhelming odds. The No. 255 player in the world saved seven of eight break points en route to a tiebreaker. Dodig proceeded to save three match points in the tiebreaker to level things at 6-6, but Cilic rebounded with two huge forehand winners to book his place in his second ATP semifinal of the season. Next up for Cilic is Viktor Troicki, who took out defending champion Sergiy Stakhovsky in straight sets.
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