Newport, Rhode Island, 9 July 2011 | AFP/AAP

Australian Matthew Ebden’s run at the ATP Hall of Fame Championships ended on Friday with a semi-final loss to Belgian sixth seed Olivier Rochus.

The 157th-ranked Ebden, contesting his second ATP quarter-final of the year, went down 7-6 6-3 in 87 minutes.

Rochus, who lost to American Mardy Fish in last year’s final, advances into a Saturday matchup against 361st-ranked Michael Yani, who outlasted 394th-ranked American compatriot Denis Kudla 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 7-5.

The winner will face either US top seed John Isner or German eighth seed Tobias Kamke in Sunday’s championship match at the $US500,000 ($A465,000) grasscourt event.

Rochus, whose only ATP career titles came on clay in 2006 at Munich and 2000 in Palermo, improved to 6-2 on grass this year with his third victory of the week and 10-2 lifetime at Newport.