Saturday, December 12, 2009

Seeds advance to semi-finals



The top four seeds at the ATP Proton Malaysian Open breezed through to the semi-finals with ease in Kuala Lumpur.

Top seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia cruised past fifth-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-3 6-3 to secure a last-four meeting with Sweden's Robin Soderling.

The French Open finalist, seeded third in the Malaysian capital, was a 6-2 6-2 winner against sixth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych.

The semi-final encounter will be a re-match of the US Open fourth! -round clash between the pair, which saw Davydenko retire with a leg injury last month.

Tomorrow's second semi pits Fernando Verdasco against Fernando Gonzalez.

Verdasco, the second seed from Spain, overcame Frenchman Richard Gasquet 7-5 6-4 today while fourth-seeded Chilean Gonzalez prevailed 6-3 6-4 against Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.