Today, four guys will be fighting for a spot in the finals of the 27th Konzum Croatia Open Umag: Carlos Berlocq and Andrej Martin on the one side, and Gastao Elias and Fabio Fognini on the other. Yesterday was yet another poor day for the seeds as we said goodbye to three of them, Pablo Carreno Busta, Jeremy Chardy and Joao Sousa.

Sousa's defeat was probably the biggest surprise yesterday but the Slovakian tennis player Andrej Martin, who had defeated his compatriot Martin Kližan the day before after saving as many as five match points, is clearly in great shape. In the semifinals, Martin will play against Berlocq, who never gave Chardy a chance yesterday, beating him 6:4 6:2 to clinch a spot among the final four. The Portuguese had most likely been disappointed as they hoped to see last year's finalist Sousa go all the way this year and take the title. Still, their spirits were surely raised by Gastao Elias who cruised through to the semifinals with an easy 6:4 6:4 win.

This is his second semifinal appearance this year: last week he had achieved the same feat at a tournament in Sweden. In his semifinal match, he will be playing against the only seed left at this tournament, Fabio Fognini. Even though at the start of his match against Damir Džumhur Fognini looked as though he could also bow out in the quarterfinals, things still fell into place and he won eventually.