Nikolay Davydenko beat top-seeded John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (4) to reach the Open de Nice semifinals, while second-seeded Gilles Simon and No. 3 Nicolas Almagro also won Thursday. Simon, who grew up in Nice, did not face a single break point in a comfortable 7-5, 6-0 win against Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci. He will play Almagro for a place in Saturday's final, after the Spaniard beat Belgium's Steve Darcis 6-4, 6-4. Schiavone in semis Second-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy was hardly troubled as she beat Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-0, 6-3 to reach the Strasbourg International semifinals Thursday, but three-time champion Anabel Medina Garrigues lost. Schiavone next plays Sloane Stephens of the United states, who beat Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-3, 6-4.Alize Cornet clinched her 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) victory against Medina Garrigues on her first match point against the fourth-seeded Spaniard, with both players losing their serve five tmes. Cornet, who has one career WTA title, next faces Pauline Parmentier in an all-French match. Parmentier won 6-3, 6-3 against Russia's Alexandra Panova. Arvidsson in last 4 Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden stunne top seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the Brussels Open tennis tournament semifinals Thursday. Eighth seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia also advanced to the last four beating Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-1. Serbia, Czech close in on Duesseldorf final Serbia and the Czech Republic moved closer to meeting in the World Team Cup final Thursday. Serbia's Viktor Troicki saved three set points in the first set and four break points in the second to beat Florin Mayer 7-6 (6), 6-3 for a 1-0 lead over defending champion Germany in the Blue Group. Tomas Berdych gave the Czechs a 1-0 lead over Argentina by beating Carlos Berlocq 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-3. The United States beat Japan 2-1 for its first win. Ryan Harrison beat Tatsumi Ito 6-2, 7-6 (5) before Go Soeda defeated Andy Roddick 7-5, 7-6 (4) to level the score. James Blake and Ryan Harrison won the decisive doubles against Ito and Bumpei Sato 4-6, 6-0, 10-4. Electronic tennis racket makes world debut A tennis racket stuffed with electronic sensors capable of tracking a player's every slice, spin and smash made its public debut at the French Open Thursday. Tennis stars Rafael Nadal and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were among those who tested the racket, made by French manufacturer Babolat. As Nadal and Tsonga traded shots before an audience of Babolat employees and journalists, their prototype rackets wirelessly communicated data to two display screens. Stroke type, category of ball spin, shot power and the positioning of the ball impact were all tracked live by the rackets, which are due to go on sale in 2013. Eric Babolat, who took the reins of the family enterprise in 1998 after his father was killed in a plane crash, said the “Play & Connect” rackets, which feel and weigh the same as a normal racket, represented a great leap forward for the game. “It's like going from silent cinema to movies with sound,” he told journalists. Babolat's aim is to appeal also to non-professional players, who will be able to upload data to an online application and track their performance to improve their game. The company said the cost of the electronic racket would be in the same price range as a high-end racket, about 250 euros ($315).
