Tomas Berdych finished off Nicolas Mahut of France with his 14th ace in a 6-3, 6-4 victory Friday to reach the semifinals of the Open Sud de France. The top-seeded Czech outplayed Mahut in the first set, hitting 18 winners and making only two unforced errors. Mahut fought back in the second but double-faulted to give the 2010 Wimbledon finalist a 4-3 lead. Second-seeded Gilles Simon also advanced by edging French wild card Guillaume Rufin 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-2. Simon won the all-French match when a backhand from Rufin sailed long. Rufin was let down by his serve in the final set, double-faulting five times and landing only 38 percent of his first attempts. Simon took the first-set tiebreaker on a forehand error from Rufin. Rufin hit two consecutive forehand winners to lead 6-2 in the second tiebreaker and leveled at one set apiece when Simon netted a backhand. Simon will next play compatriot and defending champion Gael Monfils, who cruised past Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 6-3. Lacko, Youzhny in semis Lukas Lacko of Slovakia beat seventh-seeded Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the Zagreb Indoors Friday. Lacko, who earlier ousted second-seeded Alex Bogomolov Jr. of Russia, will face the winner of the match between defending champion Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus. Germany's Michael Berrer also advanced after defeating Austria's Jurgen Melzer 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Berrer – a finalist in 2010 and 2011 – rallied after failing to convert five break points in the first set. Also in the quarterfinals, third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia defeated eighth-seeded Croat Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (10), 3-6, 7-6 (6).
