Berdych, Monfils keep firing
02/03/2012 09:39:46 PM
Top seed Tomas Berdych has booked his place in the semi-finals of the Open Sud de France with a straight-sets win over Nicolas Mahut on Friday.
Czech Berdych, the world No.7, eased past Frenchman Mahut 6-3 6-4 in just 74 minutes at the Arena Montpellier.
Mahut saw 14 aces fly past him during the quarter-final, and replied with 10, but could only succeed in breaking his opponent once from three opportunities, while giving up his own serve on three occasions.
Next up for Berdych is a meeting with Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber, a 6-2 3-6 6-3 winner over Richard Gasquet.
Also on Friday, 2010 winner Gael Monfils secured his last-four berth with a comprehensive victory over Jarkko Nieminen.
Frenchman Monfils, seeded third, dispatched his Finnish opponent 6-3 6-3 in just 54 minutes, firing nine aces without reply and not facing so much as a break point.
He will take on countryman Gilles Simon in the semis, after the second seed battled to a three-set victory over Guillaume Rufin.
Simon, ranked 197 places above compatriot Rufin, edged the all-French quarter-final 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 after two hours and 53 minutes.