TENNIS in DEPTH.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic rallied past Ivan Ljubicic 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 Thursday to advance at the Dubai Championships.

Djokovic was down a set and 4-4 against former finalist Ivan Ljubicic, who had 14 aces. But Djokovic won the next eight games and wil play Marcos Baghdatis in the semi final.

“After losing the first set comfortably, I tried to hold my serve,” Djokovic said. “I knew that at a certain point he’s going to miss (a) couple of first serves, and that was my chance. “

In the other semi final Jurgen Melzer will face seventh-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, who beat Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-3, 6-4.

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Marin Cilic dropped only his third match of the season Thursday as Austrian Jurgen Melzer upset the Croatian sixth seed 7-6 (10-8), 7-5 for a place in the semi-finals of the Barclays Championships. Cilic still boasts a Tour-best 17 wins since January against a pair of losses. The Croatian with two titles this season stood 4-1 over Melzer coming into their quarter-final on a windswept, hot day in the Gulf.

The victory was a repeat of the emotional Vienna final which hometowner Melzer won over Cilic last October. Cilic’s won their Zagreb semi-final three weeks ago on the way to that trophy.

“When I beat Cilic in Vienna, that was the best day of my tennis life,” said Melzer, advancing on his career-best 26th ranking after his performance this week. “But this comes a close second.

“It’s been a long time since I have beaten a guy in the Top 10. I played a good match after I changed things up when I was trailing 4-1 in the first set.

“I kept it together. I remembered in Vienna that I changed my game so I tried it again. He was better in our first five games so I had to do something.”

Melzer and number nine Cilic both ended with 11 aces and three double-faults.

Read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311255,ecstatic-melzer-ambushes-cilic-for-place-in-dubai-semi-finals.html#ixzz0gYLBEuqv

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Third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia won his first title in more than two years by beating Michael Llodra of France 7-5, 6-3 in Sunday’s Lyon Grand Prix final.

The 30-year-old Ljubicic’s previous title came at the Ordina Open in June 2007.

Ljubicic, who won the first of his nine ATP titles in Lyon in 2001, served seven aces and broke his French opponent three times on his way to winning in 1 hour, 36 minutes.

Jurgen Melzer defeated top-seeded Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to win the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy, his second career ATP title.

The 35th-ranked Melzer, seeded seventh, saved five break points to hold serve throughout. He broke Cilic three times in the final.

“I can’t find the right words to describe my emotions,” said Melzer, who became only the second Austrian winner in the 35-year history of the event after Horst Skoff in 1988.

Ukrainian qualifier Andriy Stakhovsky won his second career title Sunday, saving a match point before beating eighth-seeded Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 2-6, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (7) in the St. Petersburg Open.

The 93rd-ranked Stakhovsky won his first title last year in Zagreb, Croatia.

He is the third qualifier to win a tournament this year. The others are Benjamin Becker of Germany at the Ordina Open in June, and Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil in July at the Allianz Suisse Open in Gstaad, Switzerland

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Jurgen Melzer became the first Austrian to reach the Vienna final in 13 years after beating Janko Tipsarevic in their Bank Austria TennisTrophy semi-final.

Seventh seed Melzer won 4-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 on Sunday to secure a showdown with world number 13 Marin Cilic, a man to whom he has lost in their three previous meetings.

Croat Cilic beat fourth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4 7-6 (7/4) to reach the final and hopes the pressure will be stacked on home favourite Melzer.

“I think it’s going to be a really good experience for me, playing a home player who is going to be carried by the home crowd,” said the top seed.

“Probably it’s going to be a little bit like Davis Cup. I’m just going to try and do well. The key thing would be that I serve well to get some free points and from there we’ll see. He might feel some pressure and if I get some chances I hope I’m going to take them.”

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