Thu Jan 3 15:01:01 2008

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Davydenko, Murray, Ljubicic reach Qatar QFs

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Doha, Qatar (Sports Network) - Top-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko, third-seeded Scotsman Andy Murray and reigning champion Ivan Ljubicic all won quarterfinal matches Thursday at the $1 million Qatar Open, a hardcourt Australian Open tuneup.

The world No. 4 Davydenko got past his eighth-seeded fellow Russian Dmitry Tursunov 7-5, 6-3, while last year's Doha runner-up Murray handled former Aussie Open champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 and a fourth- seeded Ljubicic ran his winning streak at this event to eight matches with a hard-fought 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 victory over sixth-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber at Khalifa Tennis Complex. The Croatian Ljubicic is now a perfect 3-0 lifetime versus Kohlschreiber.

Ljubicic beat Murray in last year's finale here and was the back-to-back Doha runner-up in 2004 and 2005.

One other quarterfinal bout saw Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka waltz past Argentine Agustin Calleri 6-3, 6-0 on Day 4.

Friday's semifinals will pit Davydenko against Murray and Ljubicic versus Wawrinka. In the marquee encounter, Davydenko will meet Murray for a fifth time, with the players splitting their first four ATP meetings. Murray has won their last two matchups, with both wins coming last season.