Karlovic, Johansson Cause Upsets

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Top seed Lleyton Hewitt and No. 3 seed Tim Henman were both knocked out of the Stella Artois Championships on Friday, as Ivo Karlovic and Thomas Johansson led the giant-killing acts to reach the semifinals.

Hewitt, a three-time winner at The Queen's Club, was looking to join John McEnroe and Boris Becker as the only four-time champions at the tournament. The Australian was also hoping to avenge his loss to Karlovic at Wimbledon in 2003, the only previous time the two had met.

Once again, Karlovic, the 6'10" giant from Croatia, showed perfect poise against the former Wimbledon and US Open champion, firing 12 aces en route to a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory in just 69 minutes.

Despite the defeat, a philosophical Hewitt said: "I don't think you can take a lot of form off of a match like that. I felt like I probably served as well as I've ever served today. I felt like I was the better player in the first set. You know, if there was any 15-30s, I was the one that had them every time. That's what happens sometimes on this surface."

Karlovic, who had won just three matches on the ATP circuit this year prior to arriving in London, is now through to his first career semifinal. Having won all three of his tie-breaks this week, Karlovic is averaging one per match in 2005, having won 9 and lost 10 in his 19 matches so far this year.

Karlovic will now meet Johansson for the first time for a place in the final. The No. 6 seed from Sweden upset local favorite Henman, the No. 3 seed, 6-4, 6-4 to reach his second semifinal of the season (Rotterdam).

Johansson, who also defeated British teenage star Andrew Murray in the third round, broke Henman three times during the 1-hour, 17-minute match.

"I was disappointed with my performance," said Henman. "I never really felt like I gave myself an opportunity to try and put some pressure on him. Losing your serve early in both sets is not where you want to be playing your tennis from."

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