Indianapolis, Indiana - Americans led by third-seeded Sam Querrey take three of the four spots in the Saturday semi-finals of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships, with Canadian neighbor Frank Dancevic the odd man out. Dancevic, who grew up just over the border in Niagara Falls, Ontario, eliminated top-seeded former champion Dmitry Tursunov 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, to finally avenge three previous losses to the Russian.
The number 121 winner re-wrote history as he reversed roles from their 2007 final, when he lost to the Russian, now ranked 26th. Tursunov beat Dancevic at 2007 Queen's Club as well as June's grass- court Eastbourne final.
Dancevic, who nudged his record this season into 9-8 positive territory, will play third seed Sam Querrey, who beat Marc Gicquel of France, 6-4, 7-5.
In the bottom of the draw, it was all Americans. 2005 champion Robby Ginepri rolled back the clock with his 7-5, 6-1 win over qualifier Alex Bogomolov. Ginepri will play next against countryman John Isner, who outlasted Wayne Odesnik in more than two and a half hours, 7-5, 6-7 (2-7), 7-5.
Dancevic was proud of his effort in just over two hours: "This is my first hard-court week, and I felt a bit nervous. But I have been playing well from the first round. I'm glad I was able to play solid against Dmitry and close it out."
The 24-year-old began his comeback after losing the opening set on a break of serve, taking a 2-1 lead with a break in the second after Tursunov double-faulted.
After seizing the second set, Dancevic broke twice in the third to reach his second semi-final of 2009 after dealing with injury early in the season. He produced nine aces and 29 winners.
Tursunov admitted that he was not on his top form as he struggles to get acclimated to cement, which will dominate the next seven weeks of North American play.
"He started getting hold of my serve in the second set," said Tursunov. "I had chances in the second set tiebreaker, but I couldn't convert them. He got lots of free points - he served well, I didn't."
