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BASTAD (Sweden), July 8: Top seed Rafael Nadal triumphed in an all-Spanish quarterfinal with Juan Carlos Ferrero on Friday, beating his compatriot 6-3 6-3 to set up a semifinal against another Spaniard, third seed Tommy Robredo.
Ferrero won at Roland Garros two years ago but Nadal showed why he is the reigning French Open champion as he out-hit and out-ran his opponent, forcing too many errors out of Ferrero.
The 19-year-old Mallorcan, who is bidding to become the first player since Thomas Muster in 1996 to win seven claycourt titles in one season.
Ferrero threw everything he could at Nadal in the second set but failed to convert break points while ahead at 1-0 and 2-1 and when Nadal served to love for 3-3 the Valencian ran out of gas. Nadal broke twice more to seal the match.
Robredo disposed of Russian sixth seed Mikhail Youzhny 3-6 6-4 6-3.
Quarterfinal results: Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) 6-3 6-3; Jiri Vanek (Czech Republic) bt Oscar Hernandez (Spain) 6-4 6-2; Tommy Robredo (Spain) bt 6-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 3-6 6-4 6-3; Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) bt Mariano Zabaleta (Argentina) 6-3 6-2.
Spadea in semis
NEWPORT (Rhode Island): Second-seeded American Vincent Spadea beat Serbian qualifier Dusan Vemic 6-3, 6-4 Thursday to reach the semifinals at the Hall of Fame tennis championships.
Spadea will now face seventh-seeded compatriot Paul Goldstein, who edged German Alexander Waske 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) in Thursday’s only other match in the US$355,000 grasscourt event.
Quarterfinals results:
Vincent Spadea (USA) bt Dusan Vemic (SEM) 6-3, 6-4; Paul Goldstein (USA) bt Alexander Waske (GER) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5).
GAUDIO IN LAST FOUR
GSTAAD (Switzerland): Former French Open champion Gaston Gaudio will face double Olympic champion Nicolas Massu in the semifinals of the 421,250 euro ($502,000) Swiss Open on Saturday.
Massu, seeded seventh at this high-altitude clay court event, cruised through his quarter-final meeting with Peru’s Luis Horna on Friday, winning 6-4 6-4 in one hour and 20 minutes.
Things went less smoothly for second seed Gaudio who needed almost two and a half hours and eight match points to see off Italian world number 84 Andreas Seppi 6-4 1-6 7-6.
Results:
Razvan Sabau (Romania) bt Potito Starace (Italy) 0-6 7-5 7-5; Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) bt Frantisek Cermak (Czech Republic) 6-4 7-6(5); Nicolas Massu (Chile) bt Luis Horna (Peru) 6-4 6-4; Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) bt Andreas Seppi (Italy) 6-4 1-6 7-6(5).—Agencies
