Bernard Tomic has been bundled out of the Thailand Open on Friday, after Frenchman Richard Gasquet secured a straight-sets quarter-final win.
Gasquet made it to his third semi-final this year in overcoming the eighth-seeded Australian 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.
Gasquet secured the one break from just two chances, and saved all three break points he faced.
Beating Grigor Dimitrov from 7-5 5-2 down the day before gave Gasquet confidence against Tomic.
“Yesterday I was lucky to win, today I played better,” Gasquet said.
“It was a tight race in the first set. I did it. I felt more confident. That’s what made the difference.”
Top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia out-rallied Fernando Verdasco of Spain from the baseline to win 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 and move into the semi-finals.
Tipsarevic set up a match with 2009 champion Gilles Simon, who won the all-French quarter-final with Gael Monfils 6-4 6-1.
“It was really tough but I expected it. I have played Fernando 5-6 times,” said Tipsarevic, who improved to 4-2 against the Spaniard.
“It’s always been battles from the baseline. He made me suffer, and I ran a lot today.”
Tipsarevic fought back in the tiebreaker from 5-2 down to tie it at 5, before the fifth-seeded Verdasco made two impatient forehand errors to lose the 52-minute opening set.
The Serb saved several break points to hold for 4-4, broke to go ahead and won the quarter-final on another Verdasco forehand mistake.
Tipsarevic, chasing a spot in the eight-man ATP Finals, expects another fight with Simon.
“I have played Gilles many times. I lost more than I won,” he said.
“He is the previous champion here. He knows the surface. He keeps coming back every year. I’m here for the first time. I’m expecting a tough match like today.”
The fourth-seeded Simon benefited from a recurrence of Monfils’ right knee injury, the same problem that kept him off the tour for four months until recently.
Simon came back from 2-0 down to win the first set, and had his own right foot re-taped to start the second set. He lost the first game on serve, but quickly regained control to reach his sixth semi-finals of the year.
