Marseille: Gilles Simon upset defending champion Juan Martin del Potro of Agentina 6-4, 6-3 on Friday to set up an Open 13 semi-final against countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who saved five match points in a three-set victory against Australia's Bernard Tomic. Top-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic also reached the last four after beating seventh-seeded Jerzy Janowicz of Poland 6-3, 6-7 (0), 6-3. Berdych did not face a single break point and took Janowicz's serve twice.
The third-seeded Tsonga hit 19 aces against Tomic and won 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10) to reach the semi-finals of the tournament for the third time. He won it in 2009. In a match that lasted over two hours, Tomic showed great resilience as the Australian saved eight of nine break-points he faced, but couldn't capitalize on his chances in the decider.
Dmitry Tursunov of Russia also advanced by beating Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-6 (7), 1-6, 7-5 in his quarter-final. Tursunov, a semi-finalist at the tournament two years ago, withstood 27 aces from Muller and a second-set thrashing where he dropped serve three times to set up a semi-final against Berdych.
"Playing in qualifying for the third tournament this year, I really didn't expect this," Tursunov said. "I wasn't really looking that far ahead and I think that kind of helped me, I was just trying to play one match at a time."
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