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imageCHENNAI: Slovenian qualifier Aljaz Bedene continued his giant-slaying streak in the ATP Chennai Open as he cruised into the semi-finals with a three-set win over fifth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Friday.

Bedene, ranked 156th in the world, came from behind to knock out number 36 Garcia-Lopez 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 after a two-hour slugfest on an outside court of the Nungambakkam tennis stadium.

The London-based Bedene, who hopes to become a British citizen this month, had stunned second seed Feliciano Lopez in the second round on Thursday.

In Saturday's semi-final, Bedene meets Spanish third seed Roberto Bautista-Agut who beat Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan 7-6 (9/7), 6-4.

The other semi-final will feature defending champion and world number four Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland against fourth seed David Goffin of Belgium.

Top-seeded Wawrinka, preparing to defend his Australian Open title later this month, ousted the big-serving Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) in a centre court quarter-final.

Goffin, who rose from 110 to number 22 last year after battling back from a wrist injury, outplayed Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria 7-5, 6-2 in an hour and 11 minutes.

Bedene, a winner over Wawrinka in the semi-finals in Chennai in 2013, hoped his good run in the $450,000 season-opener would continue a bit longer.

"Of course it is nice to come through the qualifiers and enter the semi-finals for the second time," he said. "I hope this time I can go a step further and make it to the final."

Bedene said he looked forward to playing against good friend Bautista-Agut, with whom he trained in the off-season in Spain alongwith David Ferrer.

"He is a very good friend of mine, we see each other a lot, but tomorrow we both will be trying hard to get into the final," said Bedene.

Bedene, who has lived in London since 2008, said he was still a Slovenian at heart even though he was excited about the prospect of becoming a British citizen soon.

"Don't get me wrong, I love Slovenia where I was born, but London is now my first home," he said. "I am not sure when I can play Davis Cup for Britain. It will of course be good to be able to play alongside Andy Murray."

Bautista-Agut, who won the ATP's most improved player of the year award for 2014 after rising from number 59 to 15 in the rankings, said he expected Bedene to prove a tough opponent in the semi-final.

"I played a good match against Lu and I know my game is improving with every outing," he said. "But it will be a good semi-final. Aljaz has come through so well over the last week."

Wawrinka, making his seventh appearance in the Indian event, said he was happy to be in the semi-finals after a tough outing against Muller.

"It was a close match and I am happy to come through," he said. "This was the first time I was playing against Muller who is known for his serve and volley game.

"It was not easy to play against him. He served a little bit better than me.

"The semi-final is going to be interesting because David is a very good player and one has to play a solid match against him to win."

The tournament, now in its 20th year, serves as a warm-up for the Australian Open starting in Melbourne on January 19. The champion will pocket $73,400 and 250 ranking points.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2015

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