Spaniard Bautista Agut needed just 72 minutes to see off seventh-seeded Serb Troicki 6-1 6-2 to take a step closer to his third ATP World Tour title of the year and he's now 5/6 with Sky Bet to do so.
While the final scoreline was comfortable enough, Bautista Agut - who trailed 2-0 in the second set - insists it was not all plain sailing.
"The score looks easy, but the match wasn't," he said on www.atpworldtour.com. "Viktor is always tough to beat, a very good fighter and serves well."
The 29-year-old will next face third seed and 11/2 outsider Fabio Fognini, who booked his place in the last four with a 6-3 6-0 triumph over Lithuanian lucky loser Ricardas Berankis.
The other semi-final pits unseeded Damir Dzumhur (4/1) of Bosnia and Herzegovina against number eight Jan-Lennard Struff (7/2) - the German's reward for claiming an impressive comeback win over Tsonga.
The second-seeded Frenchman won the first set and led 3-1 in the second, but Struff hit back to claim his first career victory over the world number eight, taking the match 3-6 6-3 6-2.
Dzumhur, meanwhile, defeated British qualifier Broady 6-3 2-6 6-4 after recovering from 2-0 down in the deciding set. Broady was playing in his first ATP World Tour quarter-final.
Despite the defeat, Broady, the current world number 242, is set to close in on a place in the top 200 following his strong performance in Russia.
In Metz, 2014 champion and top seed David Goffin was knocked out of the Moselle Open by Benoit Paire following a hard-fought quarter-final.
Belgian Goffin fashioned a match point but could not take advantaged as Frenchman Paire battled back to claim a 7-6 (7/3) 5-7 7-6 (9/7) victory in over two hours and 25 minutes.
Paire will now face Nikoloz Basilashvili for a place in the final, with the Georgian beating Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-5 6-3.
Former finalist Mischa Zverev, the fifth seed, beat lucky loser Kenny de Schepper 7-5 7-6 (7/4) to set up a semi-final showdown with German compatriot Peter Gojowczyk, who saw off Marius Copil 6-2 6-4 in under an hour.
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