Tursunov among Eastbourne semifinalists

EASTBOURNE, England, June 18 (UPI) -- Dmitry Tursunov and Fabrice Santoro advanced in straight sets Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Aegon International tennis tournament in England.

Tursunov, the tournament's No. 2 seed, got past Denis Istomin 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 in a match in which Tursunov had Istomin on the defensive much of the day. Tursunov controlled the match by winning 85 percent of the points when he got his first serve in.

Santoro, seeded fourth, advanced when Ivan Ljubicic was unable to continue play due to a left ankle injury. Santoro lost the first set 3-6 but was ahead in the second 4-2 when Ljubicic was injured.

Also Thursday, No. 8-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez defeated Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 and Frank Dancevic beat Leonardo Mayer 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-5.

Tursunov drew Garcia-Lopez and Santoro is to play Dancevic in Friday's tournament semifinals.