Ivan Ljubicic aims to make his third Rotterdam final when he plays Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last four on Saturday.
Ljubicic has promised to buy everyone in the stadium a drink if he wins the title on Sunday and going by his performances so far the big Croatian is certainly in with a shot.
Few favoured him against the in-form Baghdatis in Friday's quarter-finals. Baghdatis had already beaten Andy Murray and held a 4-1 record against Ljubicic but the Croatian eventually edged a desperately tight clash 6-4, 6-7, 7-6. Ljubicic missed match point in the second set tiebreak but with all the experience of ten years at the top of the game, he regrouped.
Tsonga had been set for a blockbuster last eight battle with Tomas Berdych but the Czech pulled out with flu, handing Tsonga a spot in the semi-finals.
"Jo didn’t play today so it’s a little advantage for him. I had a tough one today, so he’s definitely going to feel better physically than me tomorrow. We have very similar games, big serve and going for our shots. So I’m sure it’s going to be a very entertaining match,” Ljubicic analyzed, looking ahead to the match.
Ljubicic leads 2-1 on the head-to-head. Tsonga won in four sets at the 2009 Australian Open but Ljubicic gained revenge on clay later in the year and then won 7-5, 6-3 in Dubai last year.
Prediction: Ljubicic in three
