Mardy Fish became the latest seeded player to lose at the Mercedes-Benz Cup on Friday, leaving Andre Agassi as the only seed remaining in the tournament.
Fish, the third seed, was beaten 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7) by Cyril Saulnier of France in the quarterfinals. The American is 0-2 in his career against Saulnier, who reached the semifinals for the second consecutive week.
"He played the big points well," said Fish, who had won all three of his previous quarterfinals this year. "I felt if I could just get it to a third set, I would be in control. I thought I was going to with seven or eight set points I had. For you not to win one of these points is unlucky."
PHOTO: EPA
Saulnier said, "I tried to stay focused, fight, play my game and be aggressive."
Fish will play for the US team in the Olympics next month.
Saulnier advanced to a Saturday semifinal against either the top-seeded Agassi or Tommy Haas of Germany, who were to play Friday night at UCLA.
Jeff Morrison, a wild card entrant, defeated Wesley Moodie of South Africa 6-3, 6-4 to reach his first ATP Tour career semifinal. He will play Nicolas Kiefer of Germany, who beat Greg Rusedski of Britain 6-1, 6-4.
Coming off a tournament win last week in Newport, Rhode Island, Rusedski ran out of gas.
"It was one match too many," he said. "I was just tired. I just couldn't do any more and he's playing well. I've done a lot of weeks in a row."
Morrison's victory did more than just advance him in the tournament. It earned him a spot in the main draw of next week's RCA Championships in Indianapolis, and most importantly, put him into the main draw of the US Open beginning Aug. 30.
"I feel pretty good about my game," Morrison said. "I didn't play as well as I did yesterday, but I competed hard. He broke me once and I broke him right back and broke his spirit a little bit."
Morrison has slipped a notch since making his pro debut four years ago. He is No. 107 in the tour's entry ranking system, which isn't high enough to consistently get into tour-level tournaments without playing the qualifying. When he doesn't qualify, he's relegated to the minor league Challenger events.
Bank of the West Classic
Top-seeded Venus Williams dominated play early en route to a 6-0, 6-3 victory Friday over fifth-seeded Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi of Israel in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic.
Williams needed just 15 minutes to complete the first set, in which she won 24 of the 28 points. Smashnova-Pistolesi led once -- at 30-0 in the third game.
"I couldn't miss a ball," Williams said. "The pace of my ball put a lot of pressure on her."
Second-seeded Lindsay Davenport fell behind early but rallied to beat fellow American Mashona Washington 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in another quarterfinal.
Williams, making her second-round loss at Wimbledon two weeks ago look more like a fluke, meets Amy Frazier in one semifinal.
Sixth-seeded Frazier knocked off third-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-3, 7-6 (4) to reach her second Bank of the West semifinal.
Mercedes Cup
David Ferrer saved three match points Friday and went on to edge Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-5 for a place in the semifinals of the Mercedes Cup ATP clay-court tournament.
French Open champion Gaston Gaudio also advanced, beating fifth-seeded Jiri Novak 6-4, 6-3.
Guillermo Canas defeated Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-4.
Nikolay Davydenko, seeded 15th, beat No. 12 Albert Costa 6-3, 6-4 and will meet Canas in the semis.
Ferrer, seeded 11th, had the chance to close out the match when he served at 5-4 in the second. But Nadal, the 14th-seeded teenager, broke serve and fought back to win the tiebreaker.
Up a break of serve, Nadal served for the match at 5-4 but wasted three match points and couldn't hold. Ferrer turned the wild encounter again and clinched it on his second match point.
Ferrer will play Gaudio for a place in the final.
Dutch Open
Defending champion Nicolas Massu of Chile beat Tomas Behrend of Germany 6-2, 6-3 Friday to reach the semifinals of the Dutch Open.
He will play local favorite Martin Verkerk, who beat Spaniard David Sanchez 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4. After a shaky start, Verkerk's broke Sanchez in the seventh game of the third set without Sanchez winning a point.
Massu said his 1 1/2 hour match against Behrend was closer than the score reflected. But he said he felt at home on Amersfoort's clay court and was determined to defend his title.
Second seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile beat Russia's Igor Andreev 6-3, 7-5 and will face another Dutchman, Dennis van Scheppingen, in the other semifinal.
Marcelo Rios, the first South American to reach No. 1 in ATP rankings history, retired from tennis on Friday because of an ongoing back injury.
"It is very sad for me to accept that I must leave tennis," said the Chilean left-hander, gifted on all surfaces.
"Tennis has been the passion of my life," he added. "I am 28, and I have dedicated almost 20 years to tennis. Tennis has been a way of life to me."
Rios has been largely inactive for about a year with recurrent back pain. He had surgery in Miami and in Santiago, but the problem was not solved.
"The truth is that I wanted to continue to play, and win a tournament for my daughter to see," Rios said. "That will not be possible."
Rios' daughter, Constanza, 3, lives with her mother in Costa Rica. Rios and his wife, Giuliana, are separated. Rios became No. 1 in the world in March 1998, soon after he reached his first and only grand slam final at the Australian Open, where he lost to Petr Koda of the Czech Republic. He held the ranking for six weeks, and led the ATP that year with seven titles in eight finals. He remains the only man to reach No. 1 without winning a grand slam title.
He was also the world's No. 1-ranked junior in 1993, after which he turned professional, earning more than US$9.7 million in prize money.
In his 10-year career, he won 18 singles titles in 31 finals, and one doubles title. However, he couldn't win his hometown event, losing the Santiago final three times, and in Vina del Mar last year.
Even so, he helped Chile win the World Team Cup last year for the first time, and finished with a Davis Cup record of 28-17 (25-10) in singles.
In 2000, Chile named him as its best athlete of the 20th century.
Rios, affectionately known as "Chino" by his countrymen, said he has not decided what he will do next but in recent months he has been working as a tennis commentator for a local radio station.
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