Tennis-Karlovic through to face Monfils at Nottingham

LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) - Croatia's Ivo Karlovic underlined his grasscourt credentials on Thursday with a 6-3 3-6 6-4 defeat of Italy's Andreas Seppi to reach the semi-finals of the Nottingham Open.

The 2.08 metre powerhouse will face Gael Monfils for a place in the final after the French Open semi-finalist eased past American qualifier Vince Spadea 7-6 6-2.

The 29-year-old Karlovic, who won the title last year, made the most of his first break point opportunity to take the first set but Seppi hit back to level the match.

Seppi could make no impression in the deciding set, scraping just four points on the Karlovic serve as the fourth seed closed out the match in one hour 50 minutes.

In the day's other quarter-finals Spanish third seed Fernando Verdasco beat Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-3 2-6 6-3, while Croatia's Marin Cilic swept past Swede Thomas Johansson 6-1 6-2.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Miles Evans)