SYDNEY, Australia -- Third-seeded Ernests Gulbis recorded a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, while fourth-seeded Serb Viktor Troicki handled fifth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet by an identical 6-4, 6-4 score in Thursday's quarterfinal action at the $450,000 Sydney International, a final Australian Open tune-up.
Gasquet was last year's runner-up here to Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis on the hardcourts at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre.
The semifinal opponent for the Latvian Gulbis will be Frenchman Gilles Simon, who handled Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-3. Dolgopolov surprised top-seeded American Sam Querrey in the second round here on Wednesday.
Troicki will be opposed by German Florian Mayer in the final four, as Mayer mauled Italian Potito Starace 6-4, 6-1.
