Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela beat injury-slowed defending champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 6-4, 6-3 Friday in the quarterfinals of the US Men's Clay Court Championships. Third-seeded Sam Querry of the United States also advanced, overcoming an erratic serve to beat Chile's Nicolas Massu 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. On Thursday, Fernando Gonzalez of Chile beat South African qualifier Kevin Anderson 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to set up a final eight meeting with Horacio Zeballos. The sixth-seeded Argentine swept past Israel's Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-2. American John Isner was the main casualty of Thursday's play, with the towering second seed eliminated by Belgian veteran Xavier Malisse 7-6 (3), 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3). Malisse's quarterfinal opponent will be American Wayne Odesnik, who was a 6-1, 7-5 winner over Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin. Vesnina routs Oudin In Ponte Vedra, Florida, fourth-seeded Elena Vesnina defeated an exhausted Melanie Oudin 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the semifinals of the MPS Group Championships Friday. Third-seeded Dominika Cibulkova beat sixth-seeded Aleksandra Wozniak 7-5, 6-1 to gain the other semifinal against Olga Gorvotsova, who ousted Varvara Lepchenko 6-3, 6-2. On Thursday, Vesnina of Russia defeated Julia Goerges of Germany 6-3, 6-2 and Oudin beat China's Peng Shuai 2-6, 7-5, 7-5. Olga Govortsova of Belarus won 71 percent of her first-serve points, defeating qualifier Anna Tatishvili of Georgia 6-2, 6-2. In the quarterfinals Govortsova will face Varvara Lepchenko of the United States, who made it into the draw only as a lucky loser when seventh-seeded Virginie Razzano of France withdrew with a foot injury. Taking the opportunity, Lepchenko squashed Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-1, 6-1 in 49 minutes. Wawrinka, Starace in semis In Casablanca, Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland and Potito Starace of Italy won in straight sets Friday to reach the semifinals of the Grand Prix Hassan II. The top-seeded Wawrinka beat Moroccan wild card Reda El Amrani 6-3, 6-1 and will next play Starace, who upset fourth-seeded Lukasz Kubot of Poland 6-1, 6-0. It will be Starace's first ATP tour semifinal since 2008 at Kitzbuhel, Austria. El Amrani served eight double faults, including one to give Wawrinka a 4-2 lead in the first set. In the opening set, Starace broke Kubot twice and then saved three break points to lead 5-0. Kubot won only four points on serve in the second set. Last year's runner-up, Florent Serra of France, defeated second-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-2, 6-2. Serra broke twice in each set and will take on third-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania, who downed Richard Gasquet of France 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3. Hanescu jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first-set tiebreaker. Gasquet broke Hanescu at 4-4 in the following set to level. In the final set, Hanescu saved four break points in the opening game before breaking for a 3-1 lead. Azarenka out In Marbella, Spain, top seed Victoria Azarenka pulled out of the Andalucia Open at the quarterfinal stage with a thigh muscle injury on Friday. The Belarussian was 4-0 up in the first set against Spain's Maria Jose Martinez when she pulled up in pain. She had treatment courtside but was unable to continue. Fifth seed Martinez progressed to Saturday's semifinals where she will meet another Spaniard Carla Suarez, who beat Germany's Tatjana Malek 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Italian second seed Flavia Pennetta saw off Romania's Simona Halep 6-4, 7
