Kafelnikov and Kiefer lose in Qatar

Yevgeny Kafelnikov had won the first set

Top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov became the latest big name to crash out of the Qatar Open as he fell to Czech qualifier Bohdan Ulihrach.

Despite being a set and 3-1 up Kafelnikov lost 6-1 6-7 4-6 as Ulihrach moved into the last four.

"I had nothing to lose and knew I had a good chance once it got close," said Ulihrach.

Kafelnikov was a far less happy figure and he was warned by the umpire for his language early in the final set, before his double fault at 4-4 handed his opponent a break.

I gave him one chance to get back into the match and he took it

  Yevgeny Kafelnikov

"Lets hope I dont make the same mistake in a couple of weeks time at the Australian Open," said Kafelnikov.

Ulihrach will now meet Nicolas Escude of France. The Frenchman defeated the number six seed Hicham Arazi, 6-3 6-1.

In the other semi-final Chile's Marcelo Rios will meet Vladimir Voltchkov.

Rios scraped past Spaniard Fernando Vicente 7-6 7-5, while Voltchkov sprang another surprise beating second seed Nicolas Kiefer.

Voltchkov overwhelmed the German 6-2 6-1 in less than an hour.