HOUSTON - The three highest seeded players remaining in the US Men's Clay Court Championship were defeated during Friday's quarterfinal action in a day that saw three three-setters, including a record-tying tilt between the two tallest players on the ATP World Tour.
Friday's play sets up Saturday's semifinals that will feature American wild card Ryan Sweeting against qualifier against 2007 champion Ivo Karlovic and No. 7 seed Pablo Cuevas will play No. 6 Kei Nishikori.
Karlovic, who stands 6-foot-10, tied a tournament record with 24 aces in his 7-6(2) 6-7(2) 7-6(9) win over 6-foot-9 John Isner in a 3:16 match. Isner, who set the tournament record with 24 aces during a 2009 match, had 23 in his Friday match against Karlovic.
Isner had 11 break chances in the match, but Karlovic saved 10 while securing a break of his own on his only opportunity. Those breaks came in back-to-back games at the end of the second set. Neither player had a break chance in the third set.
In defeat, Isner actually won more points in the match, 129-122.
Karlovic has now won 10 consecutive matches in Houston, claiming four on the way to the title in 2007, three in this year's qualifying and three more in the main draw. He's fired 94 aces in his six matches in 2011.
Sweeting reached his first career semifinal with a 3-6 6-3 6-1 win over Teymuraz Gabashvili in Friday's quarterfinal action. The semifinal run comes in Sweeting's second career quarterfinal.
Karlovic and Sweeting will be playing for the second time in 2011. Karlovic was a 6-4 6-4 winner when they played in San Jose in February.
The second semifinal features the last two remaining seeded players.
Nishikori, the sixth seed, was the only straight set winnner on Friday, downing top seed Mardy Fish 6-3 6-2 in 70 minutes. The victory advances the 21-year-old Japanese player to his second career semifinal.
Fish was playing his first tournament as the No. 1 ranked American player. He reached a career high ranking of No. 11 on Monday.
Nishikori will play the seventh seed Cuevas who came from behind to defeat No. 3 seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 1-6 7-6(4) 6-3.
Through three matches, Nishikori has held in all 27 of his service games, and is the only player who has yet to be broken in the draw.
Play gets started at 1 p.m. on Saturday and all three of the matches will be broadcast on Tennis Channel.
