LONDON: Top seed Richard Gasquet confirmed his grasscourt pedigree, easing into the semi-finals of the Wimbledon warm-up tournament at Eastbourne with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Slovak Martin Klizan on Thursday. The Frenchman will meet Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in the last four.
Istomin overcame Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6 6-2.
Big-hitting American Sam Querrey defeated a third Frenchman, Julien Benneteau, 7-6 (5) 6-4 and next meets the winner of the duel between defending champion and Queen’s Club runner-up Feliciano Lopez and another Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
In the women’s competition, fifth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany strode into the semi-finals with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Ekaterina Makarova.
But former World No 1 Caroline Wozniacki struggled to overcome Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours 35 minutes.
The Dane will face Angelique in the semi-finals and they will be joined by American Madison Keys who beat compatriot Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-1.
Keys will be up against home favourite Heather Watson who had a walkover against second seed Petra Kvitova after the Czech withdrew with a leg injury.
l ’S-HERTOGENBOSCH: Benjamin Becker of Germany reached his first ATP semi-finals in almost 2 1/2 years when he beat the equally desperate Vasek Pospisil of Canada 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-4 at the rainy Topshelf Open on Thursday.
Becker will face Joao Sousa, the Portuguese qualifier who put away Dutch wild card Thiemo de Bakker 6-4, 6-2.
On the women’s side, Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic dispatched Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-2 6-4.
She will face Coco Vandeweghe after the American qualifier defeated seventh seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain 7-6 (3), 6-1.
The other semi features Zheng Jie of China against Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, both winners of four titles on tour. Agencies