Melzer wins as Cilic becomes latest Dubai seed to fall

World number nine Marin Cilic became the fifth seed to go out of the Dubai tennis championships when he lost 7-6 7-5 to Austria's Juergen Melzer on Thursday.

With world number one Roger Federer and former U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick withdrawing before the start of the tournament and the early exits of Briton Andy Murray and fellow seeds Nikolay Davydenko, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon, the Dubai event has lost its lustre.

Melzer, 28, gained swift revenge for his semi-final defeat by Cilic at the Zagreb Indoors earlier this month.

"There were very tough conditions, with hot weather and the balls flying," said Melzer, who will play Russia's Mikhail Youzhny or Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in Friday's semi-finals.

"I kept my game together after being 4-1 down and then played an almost perfect match."

Cilic, 21, was heavy favourite going into the quarter-final, after winning two tournaments already this year.

The Croatian lost only three points in his opening three service games and went a break up but Melzer saved two break points in his next service game before a wide Cilic forehand gave the left-hander a break back.

"I was hitting the ball well and serving good," said Cilic. "Then I had a little bit of a rushed game on my serve and I lost three or four points in a row. From there, he started to play better. Melzer deserved it."

Cilic had a set point at 7-6 in the tiebreak, but Melzer hit a cross-court winner and went on to take the tiebreak 10-8 with an ace.

Cilic changed to a more aggressive game but was unable to stop the Austrian getting to matchpoint with a forehand winner. The Croatian then hit a backhand long to end the contest.