Zagreb - Andreas Seppi was three points from defeat when he rallied to beat Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6) and reach the Zagreb Indoors semi-finals on Friday.
The fifth-seeded Seppi served for the match at 6-5, but won only one point.
Berankis led the tiebreaker 4-1, when Seppi responded by winning five points in a row. The Italian converted his third match point.
"I was 4-1 down in the tiebreaker, after I served for the match, so it was a rather difficult situation," Seppi said. "He was actually playing very good from the moment I broke for 6-5. He hit four-five winners, and I couldn't do anything. I am a bit lucky to be through".
Berankis won 85 percent of points on his first serve, but only 44 percent on the second, as Seppi responded with his aggressive returns.
Third-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain also progressed, beating Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-1, 6-7 (5), 7-5.
Garcia-Lopez led 6-1, 4-1 when he began to unravel. Troicki fought back to send the contest to a third set, but Garcia-Lopez again started well — taking a 3-0 lead. Troicki recovered again, but was broken at 5-6 down.
Garcia-Lopez will face Marcos Baghdatis after the Cypriot rallied to beat Russia's Mikhail Youzhny 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Youzhny opened well, winning the first set easily. But things changed after Baghdatis broke for 4-2 in the second set.
He stepped up the pressure, taking a 5-2 lead in third set, before slowing down. Youzhny nearly levelled the score, but Baghdatis saved a break point before closing out the match.