German Philipp Kohlschreiber has made the semifinals for the first time in five attempts at the Heineken Open men's tennis tournament in Auckland.
Seventh seeded Kohlschreiber was solid in beating his compatriot Florian Mayer 6-3 6-4, coping well with Mayer's adventurous array of drop shots and ground strokes.
"With him you have to fight to stay calm because sometime s he plays unbelievable shots," Kohlschreiber said.
"At the end he's a tough opponent and you never know what to expect. I was quite lucky that I played very good."
Kohlschreiber's effort continues the good form he showed at Doha, Qatar last week, when he made the quarterfinals of the singles and won the doubles title with Czech David Skoch.
"I was two times in the quarterfinals here so this was another step for me and I'm pretty happy."
Kohlschreiber will play either third seed Juan Monaco or in-form Frenchman Michael Llodra in the semifinals tomorrow.
He has lost his two ATP encounters with Monaco and has not played Llodra on the tour, though he said he was familiar with Llodra's style.
Kohlschreiber said he won't bother watching his opponent's match today, preferring to relax and watch an action movie and leaving the last-minute study up to his coach.
- NZPA
