NICE, France: Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine reached the Open de Nice semifinals when he upset top-seeded David Ferrer for the first time 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 Thursday. Dolgopolov held his nerve in the deciding set, taking Ferrer's serve on the only chance he had to reach his third semifinal of the season — all of them on clay. He'd lost to Ferrer in their previous three matches. An Australian Open quarterfinalist this year, Dolgopolov will next play Victor Hanescu of Romania, who advanced when Robin Haase of the Netherlands retired from their quarterfinal with a right ankle injury while trailing 6-2, 2-0. Second-seeded Tomas Berdych easily beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-1, 6-4. Gulbis lost his serve four times. The Czech was still looking for his first title this season, while his opponent, third-seeded Nicolas Almagro, has already won two. Almagro reached the last four by beating fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-1, 6-4, breaking Andujar five times. Wozniacki, Zvonareva thru In Brussels, top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki swept into the semifinals of the Brussels Open Thursday when Yanina Wickmayer retired with an injured back after losing the first two games. Wozniacki will now play French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, who beat Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-2 6-3. Wickmayer needed a medical timeout after the second game to receive treatment on her lower back. The Belgian came back, hit a few weak returns of serve and called it quits to the disappointment of a few hundred fans at Primerose club. “To see her in so much pain right now, it is unfortunate and especially in front of this amazing crowd,” Wozniacki said of the Belgian, whom she had already beaten twice this spring. Third-ranked Vera Zvonareva beat Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 6-0, 6-1 to set up the other semifinal match against Peng Shuai. Peng, who is ranked 31st, defeated Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 6-2, 6-4. Zvonareva is up 7-0 in head-to-head record. Bartoli in semifinals In Strasbourg, top-seeded Marion Bartoli beat Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3 Thursday to set up a semifinal match against three-time former champion Anabel Medina Garrigues at the Strasbourg International. The seventh-seeded Medina Garrigues beat Mirjana Lucic of Croatia 6-4, 6-4. Second-seeded Andrea Petkovic beat fifth-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-4, 6-3. The German next plays sixth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, who advanced after beating fourth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-4, 6-2. Argentina beats US In Germany, Argentina advanced to the World Team Cup final by beating the United States Thursday. Juan Monaco started off Argentina by defeating Mardy Fish 7-6 (4), 7-5, then Juan Ignacio Chela beat John Isner 6-1, 7-6 (1) for an unassailable 2-0 lead in the best-of-three tie. The winner of the Blue Group will be decided Friday, with four teams still in contention. With a singles and a doubles to be played by each team, Germany and Serbia enter the final day of the round-robin with 1-0 leads. Philipp Petzschner put Germany ahead with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Russia's Igor Andreev, and Serbia held an advantage over Spain after Viktor Troicki beat Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-4.
