Tennis: Top two seeds advance

David Ferrer. Photo / Getty Images

Top two seeds David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro have secured semifinal spots at the Heineken Open tennis here.

The two Spaniards were both taken to three sets on centre court in Auckland today but held their game together to win places in the last four.

Ferrer, the 2007 title winner, beat eighth seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3 6-7 6-3, while Almagro qualified for the semifinals in Auckland for the first time by beating French qualifier Adrian Mannarino 7-6 6-7 6-2.

Ferrer's game was the expected clash between Kohlschreiber's aggression and Ferrer's seemingly endless running and retrieving.

"I think Philipp played very good. Maybe in the second set I (did) not serve like the first set and the third set, but with Philipp it's the same always when I play with him, a long match," Ferrer said.

Ferrer had a good 2010, ending up in the top 10 for the second time, but he said it was tough taking on most people in the top 70.

"I think the top five are at another level; Murray, Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Soderling, at this moment it's difficult to pass them," he said.

"But tennis now is very level. Maybe I am seven in the world but yesterday I played with one guy at 70 and I needed to fight a lot to beat him."

That evenness was evident as Almagro, ranked 14 in the world, struggled to overcome Mannarino.

The Frenchman was ranked 83 at the beginning of the week and needed go through three rounds of qualifying to earn a spot in the main draw this week.

But he had improved 100 spots last year and he looked a player of class when beating fifth seed Juan Monaco and last year's beaten finalist Arnaud Clement in the first two rounds.

Both players, Almagro in particular, were bothered by line calls during the match but Almagro's experience told in the end.

The first two sets went to tiebreaks, Almagro comfortably taking the first and Mannarino dominating the second.

But Almagro's experience told through in the third set as Mannarino's schedule possibly caught up with him.

Ferrer's semifinal opponent will be either seventh seeded Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci or the unseeded Colombian Santiago Giraldo.

Almagro will play the winner of the match between defending champion John Isner of the United States and former Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian of Argentina.

- NZPA