Kavcic, who hasn’t won a title since June last year, used a solid baseline game to pick off the hard-hitting Russian and reach his second Challenger semi-final this year.
Ranked 126th in the world, the 26-year-old world No 139 earned a first meeting with Jimmy Wang of Taiwan today. Third seed Wang trounced Australian Matt Reid 6-3 6-0 in just 49 minutes.
Second-seeded Matthew Ebden of Australia came back from a break down in the first set to beat last year’s finalist Hi Moriya of Japan 7-5 6-3. He next takes on South Korean Jeong Suk-young, who continued his surprise run with another shock win over fourth-seeded Yuichi Sugita of Japan, 6-1 6-3.
In the doubles semi-finals, South Koreans Jeong Suk-yong and Nam Ji-sung dumped local hopes Kittipong Wachiramanowong and Warit Sornbutnark 6-2 6-2. They play for the title today against Taiwan’s Ti Chen and Huang Liang-chi.