Lyon:
Arnaud Clement saved a match point and fought against 27 aces in ousting top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (8) to reach the Lyon Grand Prix semifinals on Friday.
Clement needed 2 hours, 47 minutes to get past Tsonga in the all-French quarterfinal featuring former Australian Open finalists.
Tsonga, who won only 10 points on his second serve, came back from a four-point deficit in the tiebreaker to level at 5-5 then couldn't handle Clement's strong returns.
Making his 13th appearance in Lyon, Clement, the 2000 champion and 2003 finalist who received a wild-card entry this year, will next meet third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, the only non-French player still in the draw.
Ljubicic, the 2001 champ, beat Florent Serra of France 7-6 (6), 6-2, serving 16 aces and breaking his opponent twice in the second set.
The big-serving Ljubicic will play his first semifinal since May 2008 at Poertschach, Austria.
"It's a great feeling to get into my first semifinal of the year," said the 29th-ranked Ljubicic. "If I can finish the year in the top 20 that will be a really good year for me. I feel like I am getting back to where I belong with my ranking. I'm feeling good on the court again."
Serra saved four break points in the first set to force a tiebreaker but Ljubicic _ losing only four points on his first serve during the match _ took a 3-0 lead and served his 10th ace before taking the set on his second set point.
Ljubicic extended his perfect record against Serra to 4-0.
Second-seeded Gilles Simon retained a slight chance of qualifying for next month's eight-man ATP World Tour Finals in London by beating last year's runner-up, fifth-seeded Julien Benneteau 7-6 (5), 6-3.
"I came here to try and win the tournament," said Simon, who can still claim one of the two spots up for grabs in London. "There are two matches left, two matches that will of course be very difficult."
On Saturday, Simon will play wild card Michael Llodra, who edged doubles partner Marc Gicquel 7-6 (5), 6-4. Llodra broke twice and served his 13th ace on match point to reach Lyon's semifinals for the first time in eight appearances.