By Lauren Lynch
Photo Credit: Tennis Brain

(April 22, 2011) World No. 56 Ivan Dodig of Croatia ruined the chances of an all Spanish Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell seminfinals after he defeated Feliciano Lopez in three sets 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. The semifinals will host Dodig versus Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer versus Nicolas Almagro. All the quarterfinals favored the high ranked, clay mastered, and seeded players with the exception of the star-stunner Dodig.

All of the Spaniards ended their matchs in quick two setters. World No. 8 Ferrer fought through a mid-match hamstring injury to beat Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-3. Becoming part of the top 10 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP rankings on Monday for the first time, World No. 11 Nicolas Almagro outsed Juan Carlos Ferrero, who was suprisingly successful in his first tournament back due to an injury in 2010, in two sets 6-3, 6-3. Nadal swept Gael Monfils in 75 minutes to fight for his 6th title in Barcelona.

Dodig will become an unexpected player to keep your eyes on this clay court season and will surpass his career high, 55, in the rankings on Monday. Dodig has one ATP 250 singles title to his name from when he beat Michael Berrer on the hard courts of Zagreb in 2011. He has never been particularly successful on the clay previously except for making it into the finals of the small Ostrava tournament.  He owns a career win/ loss record of 21- 17.

Though he has never played the clay court cowboy and World No. 1 Nadal previously, he has the opportunity of having nothing to lose and being confident after upsetting World No. 5 Robin Soderling (his first top 10 win) and Milos Raonic. In his match today, Dodig only lost 6 points in his first 5 service games against Lopez's 11 aces with an effective forehand.