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Federer defeats Kiefer, to face Karlovic in semi-final

Britain's Andy Murray reacts during his quarter-final match against Russian Dmitry Tursunov at the St Petersburg Open ATP tournament in St Petersburg, Russia, on Friday. PHOTO: EPA

Roger Federer cruised into the semi-finals of the Swiss Indoors, his home tournament, by beating Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 6-2 on Friday.

Federer served his first ace on second serve to earn three match points and won on his first when Kiefer mis-hit a shot into the roof of the hall.

The top-ranked player on the ATP tour, who comes from Basel, is seeking his second straight title in his hometown. If he repeats as champion, Federer will also end the year as No. 1 for the fourth straight season.

In the semi-finals Federer will play Ivo Karlovic, who had 38 aces in coming from behind to edge fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (13).

Karlovic saved five match points in the final tiebreaker, before converting his fifth with a passing shot. He is having his best season on the tour, with three titles.

Federer, who won three of four Grand Slams this year, only losing at the French Open, beat Kiefer for the ninth straight time and is 10-3 against the German, who has made a strong comeback in the second half of the season after missing more than a year with a wrist injury.

Jarkko Nieminen upset second-seeded Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 7-5 and damaged the Chilean's hopes of qualifying for the season-ending Masters Cup.

In his third semi-final of the year, Nieminen will play 2005 runner-up Marcos Baghdatis, who beat eighth-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 7-6 (5).

Nieminen scored his first win against Gonzalez in five attempts, but not before wasting two match points while leading 5-4. He also fought off three break points before gaining his third match point and converting it with a backhand down the line.

Second-seeded Andy Murray rallied to beat Dmitry Tursunov 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 on Friday and advance to the semi-finals at the St Petersburg Open.

In his seventh semi-final match this season, the 16th-ranked Briton will face third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. Youzhny advanced when Philipp Kohlschreiber retired with fatigue after the German lost the first set 6-4.

Tursunov, seeded fifth, pressured Murray from the beginning and won the first set after a break in the fifth game.

Murray saved two break points in the fifth game of the second set -- and two more in the ninth -- before forcing a tiebreaker, which he won to stay in the match.

In the decisive third set, Murray saved three break points in the sixth game and broke the 27th-ranked Russian in the next game.

Murray had nine aces to Tursunov's six.

Youzhny, the 2004 champion, won four consecutive games to rally from 4-2 down.

Kohlschreiber, seeded seventh, then decided not to continue the match. The German said he was taking aspirins and antibiotics after feeling sick since Tuesday.

"Towards the end of the first set I started feeling more and more powerless and tired," Kohlschreiber said. "After I lost the first set I felt I didn't have many chances of winning the match so I decided to retire, not to get worse."

It's the second straight tournament where Kohlschreiber has retired. In a Kremlin Cup quarter-final match on Oct. 12, he retired with a back injury after losing the first set to Michael Berrer 6-3.

Earlier on Friday, sixth-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain also advanced, upsetting fourth-seeded Potito Starace of Italy 6-3, 6-4. Verdasco will play Marin Cilic of Croatia, who beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-4.6-4.

The 30th-ranked Verdasco broke in each set to win the match. He reached the semi-finals here in 2005.

The Lyon ATP tournament has been dominated by home players this week as three French competitors qualified for the semi-finals.

France's Marc Gicquel beat Diego Hartfield of Argentina 7-5, 6-3 to set up a last four clash with Colombia's Alejandro Falla, a 7-5, 6-7 (3), 7-5 winner over Croatian fifth seed Ivan Ljubicic.

The other semi-final sees Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against Sebastien Grosjean, both of France. Tsonga beat Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-3, 6-2 and Sebastien Grosjean got the better of another Frenchman Julien Benneteau 7-6 (6), 2-6, 7-6 (4).

It has been an impressive week by Tsonga, ranked just 65th in the world, following his defeat of French No. 1 Richard Gasquet on Thursday. Tsonga, putting his effective service to good use and full of confidence, was an easy victor of Rochus.

Patty Schnyder needed just 39 minutes to beat top-seeded Anna Chakvetadze 6-1, 6-0 on Friday and reach the semi-finals of the Generali Ladies.

"This result is an incredible surprise for me," the sixth-seeded Schnyder said, who was also a semi-finalist in Linz in 2005 and last year.

The seventh-ranked Russian made 24 unforced errors and scored only six points on Schnyder's serve.

While trailing 3-0 in the opener, Chakvetadze won her only service game after saving two break points.

Schnyder next plays third seed Marion Bartoli, who defeated Julia Vakulenko 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.

After easily winning the opening set, Bartoli was outplayed in the second and fell a break behind in the decider.

Bartoli broke back and then converted her first match point on the Ukrainian's serve.

Nicole Vaidisova beat fourth-seeded Dinara Safina 6-3, 7-6 (7) to reach the semi-finals for the second year.

Vaidisova served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5, but had to wait for her second match point in the tiebreak to finally complete the win.

In the semi-finals, Vaidisova will play second-seeded Daniela Hantuchova, who beat Alona Bondarenko 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Hantuchova won the first set after breaking Bondarenko twice, but scored only six points on her own serve in the second. Hantuchova then used her only break point at 4-3 in the decider as Bondarenko hit a smash wide and closed the match with a love game.
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