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Melzer stands firm as seeds tumble in Hamburg

Andreas Seppi pulled off an impressive victory over Thomaz Bellucci © Getty Images

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Florian Mayer produced a gutsy performance to send former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero crashing out of the German Open in Hamburg.

Sixth seed Ferrero had taken the lead after an edgy opening set led to a tie-break, but spurred on by a partisan German crowd, world No. 54 Mayer clawed his way back to force the match to a deciding set.

Mayer's confidence continued to grow throughout the match, and he served three aces and lost just three points on his serve in the final set as he wrapped up a 6-7(3) 6-2 6-3 victory to book his place in the semi-finals at the Rothenbaum club.

Jurgen Melzer is the only seeded player remaining in the draw after the Austrian eased past Italy's Potito Starace 6-4 6-1. The third seed, who reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros last month, dropped just ten points on his serve as he wrapped up the victory after just 68 minutes on court.

Melzer will now meet another unseeded Italian, Andreas Seppi, who stunned seventh seed Thomaz Bellucci 7-6(0) 5-7 7-5.

Meanwhile, at the Atlanta Tennis Championships, Andy Roddick stayed on course with a 4-6 6-3 6-4 quarter-final win over Xavier Malisse. Roddick hasn't had things all his own way in the tournament and he needed over two hours to progress to the semi-finals, where he will meet Mardy Fish who became one of three Americans in the final four after dominating countryman Taylor Dent 6-3 6-0.

Second seed John Isner eased into the semi-finals with a 6-1 6-2 win over Michael Russell. Isner needed less than an hour to seal the victory, firing 11 unanswered aces past a helpless Russell, who only won nine return points.

Also through to the semi-finals is South Africa's Kevin Anderson, who beat Slovakia's Lukas Lacko 6-3 6-4.

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