Dancevic was proud of his effort in just over two hours: 'This is my first hard-court week, and I felt a bit nervous. But I've been playing well from the first round. I'm glad I was able to play solid against Dmitry and close it out.'

The 24-year-old began his comeback after losing the opening set on a break of serve, taking a 2-1 lead with a break in the second after Tursunov double-faulted.

After seizing the second set, Dancevic broke twice in the third to reach his second semi-final of 2009 after dealing with injury early in the season. He produced nine aces and 29 winners.

Tursunov admitted that he was not on his top form as he struggles to get used to cement, which will dominate the next seven weeks of North American play.

'He started getting hold of my serve in the second set,' said Tursunov. 'I had chances in the second set tiebreaker, but I couldn't convert them. He got lots of free points -- he served well, I didn't.'