VIENNA, Austria (AP) -Top-seeded Novak Djokovic saved two match points before beating Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (2) Friday in the quarterfinals of the BA-CA Tennis Trophy.
Djokovic faced a pair of match points while trailing 5-4 in the third set, but he managed to save both and hold his serve.
"Chela was really great today. I had a bit of luck beating him," Djokovic said.
In the semifinals, the third-ranked Serb will play Andreas Seppi, who upset two-time defending champion Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-3.
Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, who rallied to beat 2004 champion Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-4, also reached the semifinals.
Djokovic converted his only break point to win the first set. In the second, he added another break to lead 4-2, but the Argentine then had eight break points and converted two of them to level the match.
Before the start of the third set, Djokovic got medical treatment on a back muscle.
The third-seeded Ljubicic had not lost in Vienna in 12 consecutive matches, winning the event in 2005 and 2006.
"I missed some shots I usually make but Seppi played the best tennis of his life," said the Croat, who was sidelined for two weeks before the tournament because of kidney stones. "I was really upset on court. Whatever I tried, it just did not work. We train a lot together, so he knows my game very well."
Seppi reached his second semifinal match of the year after losing the final in Gstaad, Switzerland, in July.
"It is great to be the first to beat Ljubicic here," Seppi said. "My game was very consistent and I hardly made any mistakes from the baseline."
The 73rd-ranked Italian broke Ljubicic in the opening game and added another break at 5-3 to win the first set.
Seppi had another break early in the second, and then saved two break points before finishing the match with an ace on his third match point.
Wawrinka rallied from a set down to win a match for the third time this tournament.
"Obviously I need some time to settle down in a match," Wawrinka said.
The 41st-ranked Wawrinka missed a set point in the first-set tiebreaker, but had one break in both the second and the third set to turn the match around.
Wawrinka will face either second-seeded Fernando Gonzalez or Juan Carlos Ferrero in the semifinals.
