Baghdatis Bags Ljubicic at Australian Open

Unseeded Marcos Baghdatis followed up on his win over Andy Roddick in stunning fashion late Wednesday morning at the Australian Open, defeating No. 7 seed Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 in a match that ended after 1 a.m. Melbourne time (after 9 a.m. EST Tuesday).

Baghdatis broke Ljubicic for 3-1 in the fifth set after the Croat was rattled by a line call that went against him. The Cypriot beat Ljubicic in their lone previous meeting in the first round last year in Melbourne.

In the first quarterfinal on Tuesday, Argentine David Nalbandian rolled over a tired Fabrice Santoro 7-5, 6-0, 6-0 in under two hours to advance to the semis.

"I feel that I can keep going," Nalbandian said. "I have to keep working, keep playing, keep focus but my goal is to try and win some Grand Slams and I'm ready to do it. I didn't spend a lot of time on court today so I am happy with that."

Nalbandian is only the second Argentine to reach the Australian Open semifinals after Guillermo Vilas, who reached the semis four times and won the title twice.

For the 33-year-old Santoro, a five-set win over Gaston Gaudio earlier in the week took its toll.

"Two days ago I was already pretty tired physically, and against [David] Ferrer, I had a tough period after an hour and 15 minutes of game," Santoro said. "Today I had the same problem after an hour, at the same point. But Nalbandian is a great player, he makes me move a lot. He played better and better, relaxed, because he won the first set. That first set makes a big difference. After that first set, I mean, he just gave me a lesson."

Winners in doubles quarterfinal action were (7) Martin Damm/Leander Paes (d. (2) Bjorkman/Mirnyi in three) and unseeded Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Marcin Matkowski (d. Fisher/Gimelstob in three).

Scheduled for Wednesday in quarterfinal singles play are (21) Kiefer vs. (25) Grosjean (Frenchman leads head-to-head 3-2) and (1) Federer vs. (5) Davydenko (Fed leads 6-0), and in doubles quarterfinal play (1) the Bryan brothers vs. Hernych/"Dr." Ivo Karlovic, and (4) Hanley/Ullyett vs. (8) Aspelin/Perry.