Murray to meet Youzhny in St Petersburg semis

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, Oct 27 (Reuters) Second seed Andy Murray came from behind to beat Russian Dmitry Tursunov 3-6 7-6 6-4 to reach the semi-finals of the St Petersburg Open.

After dropping a set for the first time in three matches, the 20-year-old Briton saved several break points before winning the second on a tiebreak.

Fifth seed Tursunov again wasted numerous chances to break in the deciding set before surrendering his serve in the sixth game yesterday.

''He had so many chances on my serve he probably deserved to win the first two sets,'' Scot Murray told reporters.

''But I made a lot of great first serves and in the tiebreak I won every point on my serve. I also changed my tactics towards the end of the second set, started to play more aggressive and come to the net a bit more.'' DIFFERENT MATCH Murray will take on another Russian in the last four after third seed Mikhail Youzhny went through when German Philipp Kohlschreiber retired at 4-6 down.

''It'll be a different match against Youzhny because he's a different type of player to Tursunov,'' said Murray. ''But if I play like I did today in the last two sets I'll have a good chance of winning.'' Kohlschreiber pulled out after feeling unwell.

''Towards the end of the first set I started feeling more and more tired,'' he said.

''After I lost the first set I felt I didn't have much chance of winning so I decided to retire and not to get worse.'' Youzhny said Kohlschreiber's retirement did not diminish his first victory over the German in four matches.

''The win is a win no matter what. I'm just glad to be in the semi-finals,'' he said.

Spanish sixth seed Fernando Verdasco also beat fourth-seeded Italian Potito Starace 6-3 6-4 and next plays Croatian qualifier Marin Cilic, who overcame Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-4 6-4.

The 1 million dollars indoor tournament has been overshadowed by the controversy surrounding top seed Nikolay Davydenko's shock defeat by Cilic on Thursday.

The ATP, the governing body of men's tennis, fined the Russian world number four 2,000 dollars for lack of effort during his second-round match.

REUTERS BJR KN0944