South Korea's Lee upsets top seed Ljubicic in China

BEIJING, Sep 15 (Reuters) South Korea's Lee Hyung-Taik gave Asian pride a boost by dumping top seed and world number three Ivan Ljubicic out of the China Open quarter-finals 6-3 7-6 today.

The 30-year-old eighth seed, ranked 60 places below his Croatian opponent, took the first set thanks to some error-strewn tennis from Ljubicic and broke again for a 6-5 lead in the second with a kind net cord.

With defeat looming, Ljubicic threw caution to wind and immediately broke back but Lee prevailed 7-3 in the tie break to set up a semi-final against another Croatian, fourth seed Mario Ancic.

Ancic, returning from a two-month layoff through injury, was on the back foot for the best part of two sets but still ran out a 2-6 7-6 6-4 winner over Slovakia's fifth seed Dominik Hrbaty.

''It was an extremely tough match, every time we play it's close,'' said Ancic. ''As soon as I returned, he put the ball back in the other corner, so I always felt on the defensive, which is not my game.

''I tried a few things and by the end I really got into my rhythm.'' Reuters DH VV1642