(MENAFN- Kora) World number four Del Potro suffered a shock exit at the quarter-final stage of the ATP 500 hard-court event in Rotterdam, going down 6-3 6-4 to Ernests Gulbis of Latvia
Del Potro survived a break point in the second game of the opening set, but was made to work hard in each of his service games
And the top-seeded Argentinian's resolve was finally broken in the eighth game to leave Gulbis serving for a 6-3 first-set victory
Despite delivering a love service game to open the second set, Del Potro allowed Gulbis to make the break again, handing the world number 24 a 2-1 lead
Del Potro held his nerve when facing two match points at 5-3 down, but a missed break point opened the door for Gulbis to put the match to bed
Unseeded Gulbis will now come up against Tomas Berdych in the semi-final after the Czech recorded a 6-7 (9-11) 6-2 6-4 victory over Poland's Jerzy Janowicz
Second seed Murray saw his hopes ended by world number 37 Marin Cilic, with the Croatian triumphing 6-3 6-4
The Wimbledon champion, who won in Rotterdam five years ago, was slow out of the blocks and was 3-0 down before getting the chance to register a game on the scoreboard
That early service-game defeat cost Murray the opening set, and it was a similar tale in the second
The duo were matching each other blow for blow, but a single drop of serve in the fifth game, followed by four missed break points in the sixth, saw Murray's challenge ended prematurely
Cilic's last-four opponent will be unseeded Dutchman Igor Sijsling, after he overcame Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2 2-6 6-1 in the final last-eight clash of the day
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