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Ancic recovers to defeat Davydenko

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Mario Ancic
Tommy Robredo

HAMBURG, Germany -- Mario Ancic fought back from a set down against fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko at the Hamburg Masters, winning 5-7 7-6 6-3 to set up a semifinal with Tommy Robredo.

In chilly conditions, Ancic overturned a service break to take the second set to a tiebreak and then broke the world number six twice in a thrilling decider to reach his first Masters Series semi.

Czech Radek Stepanek and Argentina's Jose Acasuso also made it through to the last four on the slow red clay.

Stepanek, the 15th seed, beat Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-6 6-1 and Acasuso battled past Spain's Fernando Verdasco 6-1 6-7 6-3.

Ancic had come back from a set down in his previous two matches this week and said the effort had taken its toll.

"In the beginning today the legs were really heavy and in the first set I was late on a lot of balls.

"The most important thing now, the only focus, is to prepare for the next match physically. I've been hitting a lot of balls this week so the most important thing is that the legs feel good, the body feels good. These kinds of games take a lot of energy from you."

With the umbrella-like roof of centre court closed to keep off the frequent rain showers, Robredo won a gritty clash of the Spaniards, beating David Ferrer 7-6 6-4 in their first meeting.

Stepanek said the first-set tiebreak had been decisive against the big-serving Belarussian Mirnyi.

"I showed him that I'm the one who's going to go for it and I think that also made his confidence drop after that first set," the Czech said.

"I was trying to use that from the beginning of the second set and it worked perfectly and I was controlling the match."

Earlier, the unseeded Acasuso had raced through the first set against Verdasco but the clay specialist came back from a break down to win the second set tiebreak.

In the decider Acasuso got the crucial break for 5-3 and then closed out the win after two hours 17 minutes, also reaching his career first Masters Series semi.

"After I lost the tiebreak I was a bit angry with myself but I stayed calm as I knew there was a long way to go and all was not lost," Acasuso said.

"Obviously I want to take advantage of this moment and I don't want to stop here. I want to go further."

The Hamburg Masters is the nearest warm-up event to the French Open, which starts on May 28, but this year's edition has suffered from the withdrawal of five of the world's top 10.

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