Unfancied Frenchman Julien Benneteau sent top seed and defending champion David Ferrer crashing out of the Heineken Open quarter finals in Auckland yesterday.
World No. 5 Ferrer looked uncomfortable as he was overwhelmed 6-4, 6-0 in a surprising reversal after the Spaniard's easy passage through the earlier rounds.
bad day
"Now is a bad day but tomorrow is another day and I have to work and get ready for the Australian Open," Ferrer said afterwards, praising the pressure applied by Benneteau.
The Frenchman, ranked 74 in the world, will meet former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero in today's semi-final after the Spaniard beat Chilean qualifier Nicolas Massu 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Argentina's Juan Monaco beat Frenchman Michael Llodra in a two-and-a-half-hour nailbiter, coming back from a set down to win 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5).
His next match will be against German seventh seed Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Kohlschreiber defeated his compatriot Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-4 in their quarter-final.
Benneteau has beaten Ferrer previously but few were picking the 26-year-old to do the same in Auckland.
He has been a big improver in the Auckland tournament, disposing of Spanish sixth seed Nicolas Almagro in three sets in the second round on Wednesday.
"It was a very, very good match for me," he said after beating Ferrer. "I tried a lot of things and it worked nice. It was a special feeling."
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Ferrer admitted he had had an off day but gave credit to the Frenchman.
"He's difficult to play because he plays very fast and returns a lot of balls," Ferrer said.
Third seed Monaco is the highest seed to make it through to the semis after coming close to being upset by Llodra, who won the ATP event in Adelaide last week.
The Frenchman, who won in Adelaide last weekend, appeared to be upset by a couple of close line calls later in the match, losing some of his focus.
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