Home hope and top seed Philipp Kohlschreiber has been knocked out of the German Tennis Championships in Hamburg after Renzo Olivo fought off two match points before advancing to the last four.
Kohlschreiber had been hoping to become the first German to win the competition since tournament director Michael Stich's success in 1993 and he looked to be on course for a semi-final berth having taken the first set 6-1.
The world number 153 battled back to win the second set without dropping a game and, even though it looked like Kohlschreiber would battle through when he was in control of the decider, Olivo dug deep to win the final four games and emerge with a 1-6 6-0 7-5 success.
Kohlschreiber was bidding for an eighth tournament victory on the tour and his sixth on German soil, but it was Olivo who advanced to face Pablo Cuevas in the semi-finals.
There were no such troubles for third seed Cuevas, who saw off Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (9/7) 6-1 to remain on course for a third tour title this season following the Uruguayan's clay-court wins in Brazil.
Stephane Robert, 36, is also in to the semi-finals after defeating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (7/4) 4-6 6-3 and he will face seventh seed Martin Klizan, who overcame Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-4 6-3.
At the SkiStar Swedish Open, David Ferrer's bid for a third title in Bastad is still alive after the top seed defeated Dustin Brown 6-1 4-6 6-4.
Five-time Wimbledon champion Bjorn Borg was among the spectators who saw Ferrer advance to book a last-four meeting with Albert Ramos-Vinolas, the Spaniard having beaten Andrea Arnaboldi 5-7 7-5 6-0.
With Fernando Verdasco also progressing, courtesy of a 6-2 6-1 win over Facundo Bagnis, Portuguese Gastao Elias is the only non-Spaniard in the final four after he beat second seed Joao Sousa 6-2 6-2.
Source: PA
