 Santoro applies ice to Ljubicic's injured ankle |
Former world number three Ivan Ljubicic limped out of the Aegon International at Eastbourne, allowing Fabrice Santoro to progress to the semi-final. Ljubicic had won the first set 6-3 but was 4-2 down in the second when he injured his ankle in a heavy fall. Santoro will face Frank Dancevic next after the Canadian beat Argentina's Leonardo Mayer 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-5. Caroline Wozniacki is the only women's seed in the last four after a 6-3 6-2 win over Ekaterina Makarova. Ljubicic, now ranked 30th in the world, struggled throughout last year with back and hamstring injuries and the 30-year-old now faces a race to be fit for Wimbledon, with a scan on the ankle planned for Thursday.  | 606: DEBATE |
"It is not a typical ankle twist but we are not 100 percent sure what it is," said Ljubicic. "We will have to find out how long it will take after the evaluation." Veteran Frenchman Santoro, who at 36 is competing in his final year on the ATP Tour, will be hoping to continue his good run against Dancevic, who eliminated top-seed Igor Andreev in the opening round. In the other men's quarter-final matches, second-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 and eighth-seeded Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-4 3-6 6-3 to set up a semi-final between the two victors. Danish sixth seed Wozniacki produced an efficient display to beat Russian qualifier Makarova in under an hour to set up a semi-final clash with Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak, who eased past Russian Vera Dushevina 6-1 6-0. "I love coming back to grass every year, and even though it's only a short period of time on grass I feel I adapt really fast," said Wozniacki. "I've been serving really well this week. I've made a lot of aces and a lot of serving winners, and I think that helps." Eighth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska was beaten 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 by France's Virginie Razzano, who faces compatriot Marion Bartoli in the other semi following her 6-1 6-4 victory over Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues.
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