NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) Gilles Simon and Leonardo Mayer were eliminated from the grass-court Nottingham Open, leaving an unlikely lineup for the semifinals omn Thursday.
The second-seeded Simon was beaten 5-7, 7-6 (8), 6-4 by Sam Querrey of the United States, while fourth-seeded Mayer lost 6-3, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (6) to Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.
Istomin will next play 2006 Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis, who reached only his second semifinal of the year with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Simone Bolelli of Italy.
Baghdatis, who knocked out top-seeded David Ferrer in the second round, has yet to drop a set in Nottingham.
Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine beat Yen-hsun Lu of Taiwan 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4) in the last quarterfinal, and will play Querrey, who is the only seed left at No. 12.
Querrey had lost four of his previous five matches against Simon but his serve was a big weapon against the Frenchman with 26 aces in a match that lasted just over two hours.
Wimbledon starts on Monday.
