BOGOTA, Colombia — Top-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia overcame a slow start to defeat veteran wild card Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4 Friday to reach the Claro Open semifinals. The 23rd-ranked Karlovic will next play third-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France, who beat seventh-seeded Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 1-6, 6-1, 6-3. The other semifinal in the ATP 250 clay-court tournament will be between Michael Berrer and Bernard Tomic.
German Berrer defeated Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 while Australia's Tomic cruised past Tatsuma Ito of Japan 6-1, 6-4.
Monfils in last 4
Top-seeded Gael Monfils of France rallied to beat sixth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 and reach the semifinals of the Croatia Open at Umag Friday.
Monfils was a break down in the second set, before building a 5-2 lead and wasting two set points. He won five straight points in the tiebreaker to force the decider.
A single break was enough for the Frenchman to win the third set and clinch a sixth semifinal spot in 2015.
Monfils will face Austrian Dominic Thiem who beat fellow Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-7 (5), 6-1, 3-0. Haider-Maurer retired due to a knee injury.
Second-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut also advanced by defeating Borna Coric of Croatia 6-3, 6-3.
Bautista Agut saved all four break points he faced, including three when the 18-year-old Coric was trailing 3-5 with a chance to stay in the first set.
“I am not pleased with the way I played but I still felt I had some chances,” Coric said. “I dropped both mentally and physically in the second set.”
It's the fourth semifinal of the season for Bautista Agut. The Spaniard lost all three semifinals so far in 2015 — in Chennai, Marseille and Munich.
He will face Joao Sousa who saved a match point and upset fifth-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (6) to advance to the semifinals — his third this year. Sousa reached the final in Geneva in May.
“I played very good tennis,” Sousa said. “At the end we both deserved to win and I had more luck.”
Sousa started the match quickly, winning the first four games in just 11 minutes.
Fognini recovered in the second set, breaking for the first time to gain a 3-1 lead.
Sousa started the third with a 2-0 lead, but Fognini then broke back as the decider went to a tiebreaker. Sousa was 5-6 before rallying to win after two hours of play.
Cuevas advances
Defending champion Pablo Cuevas beat Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-3, 6-4 in the Swedish Open quarterfinals at Bastad Friday.
In the semifinals the third-seeded Uruguayan faces France's Benoit Paire, who easily defeated Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-2 in just under an hour.
Also, two-time Bastad champion and second-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain defeated France's Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3, 6-3.
It took three sets for Germany's Alexander Zverev to beat sixth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
Radwanska makes semis
Urszula Radwanska of Poland beat the last surviving seed in the Istanbul Cup quarterfinals when she outlasted No. 8 Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (5) Friday.
Radwanska next faces Roberta Vinci of Italy, who stumbled after dominating the first set against Magdalena Rybarikova. The Slovak rallied to beat Vinci 0-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Lesia Tsurenko endured a similar struggle to overcome fellow Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6 (13), 7-5 for the first time in three meetings. There were 13 service breaks in the 2 1/2-hour match.
In the semifinals Tsurenko plays Kirsten Flipkens, who defeated Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-2, 6-4. The Belgian proved far more decisive in winning her break points — 67 to 20 percent for Schiavone. — Agencies
