Slovenian qualifier Aljaz Bedene continued his giant-slaying streak in the ATP Chennai Open on Friday, cruising into the semi-finals with a three-set win over fifth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Bedene, ranked 156th in the world, came from behind to knock out No.36 Garcia-Lopez 2-6 6-3 6-2 after a two-hour slugfest on an outside court of the Nungambakkam tennis stadium.
The London-based Bedene, who hopes to become a British citizen this month, had stunned second seed Feliciano Lopez in the second round on Thursday.
In Saturday's semi-finals, Bedene meets Spanish third seed Roberto Bautista-Agut who beat Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan 7-6 (9-7) 6-4.
The other semi-final will feature defending champion and world number four Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland against fourth seed David Goffin of Belgium.
Top-seeded Wawrinka, preparing to defend his Australian Open title later this month, ousted the big-serving Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-2 7-6 (7-4) in a centre court quarter-final.
Goffin, who rose from 110 to number 22 last year after battling back from a wrist injury, outplayed Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria 7-5 6-2 in an hour and 11 minutes.
Bedene, a winner over Wawrinka in the semi-finals in Chennai in 2013, hoped his good run in the $450,000 season-opener would continue a bit longer.
"Of course it is nice to come through the qualifiers and enter the semi-finals for the second time," he said.
"I hope this time I can go a step further and make it to the final."
Bedene said he looked forward to playing against good friend Bautista-Agut, with whom he trained in the off-season in Spain along with David Ferrer.
"He is a very good friend of mine, we see each other a lot, but tomorrow we both will be trying hard to get into the final," said Bedene.
Bautista-Agut, who won the ATP's most improved player of the year award for 2014 after rising from No.59 to 15 in the rankings, said he expected Bedene to prove a tough opponent.
"I played a good match against Lu and I know my game is improving with every outing," he said.
"But it will be a good semi-final. Aljaz has come through so well over the last week."
Wawrinka, making his seventh appearance in the Indian event, said he was happy to be in the semi-finals after a tough outing against Muller: "This was the first time I was playing against Muller who is known for his serve and volley game. He served a little bit better than me."
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