Pioline falls in India

Pioline won the tournament in 2000

Cedric Pioline became the latest and last seed to be knocked out of the Indian Open after losing in straight sets to Michal Tabara.

The Frenchman, who was the sole surviving seed in the tournament lost 6-4 6-1 at the quarter-final stage.

Tabara's reward for the defeat of the third-seed is a first semi-final place on the ATP Tour.

The Czech dominated Pioline with his big serve and hard groundstrokes and took an early lead in the first set before closing it out easily.

This is not the way I wanted to finish and I had a good chance of going into the final

This is not the way I wanted to finish and I had a good chance of going into the final

  Cedric Pioline

The Czech broke Pioline with two big passing shots to go 2-1 up in the second before romping into the last four.

"I played a bad match today and he played pretty good," Pioline said.

"He made a lot of winners and I made a lot of unforced errors, that sums up everything."

The Frenchman, a semi-finalist last year said: "This is not the way I wanted to finish, especially since I was the only seed left. I had a good chance of going into the final."

Spain's Tommy Robredo also reached his maiden Tour semi-final by beating Cyril Saulnier of France 6-2 6-1.

Robredo, starting his third season on the circuit, said: "I am thrilled, it's quite unbelievable.

"I played a perfect match today, my best tennis."