Janko Tipsarevic looks to reach his second consecutive ATP final when he takes on old rival Alex Bogomolov in the St Petersburg Open semi-finals.
Tipsarevic will be competing in his eighth ATP semi-final of the year on Saturday after seeing off Italy's Potito Starace 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-1, landing 12 aces along the way.
"The problem (in the first set) was that I didn't use my chances. I had two set points in the tiebreaker," Tipsarevic said. "It's same like in football — if you don't score the other guy is going to score. But then in the second set, when I made the break at 3-2 to 4-2, everything changed, I started feeling more relaxed and the match finished pretty fast."
It maintains his hopes of qualifying for the ATP World Finals but he really needs to beat Bogomolov today and hope that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga slips up in Vienna.
Bogomolov crushed qualifier Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 6-1 and he'll be hoping to claim his second win over the Serb, having beaten him in Tokyo seven years ago.
"I haven't played Tipsarevic for a long time," the American said. "But I do not expect any surprises from him tomorrow."
