13 Jan 2011

Almagro, Ferrer advance on good day for Spaniards

4:26 pm on 13 January 2011

The top two seeds have advanced to the semi-finals of the Heineken tennis Open in Auckland with first seed David Ferrer and second seed Nicolas Almagro pushed hard by their opponents before winning their quarter-finals in three sets.

The Spanish world number seven Ferrer beat Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-3 7-6 6-3 and now plays either Colombian ATP Tour debutant Santiago Giraldo or top Brazilian player and tournament 7th seed Thomaz Bellucci, who do battle in the night match this evening.

Fellow Spaniard Almagro was taken to the wire by French qualifier Adrian Mannarino winning the first set in a tiebreak before losing the second the same way, but eventually wore down the Frenchman winning the match 7-6 6-7 6-2.

Next up on centre court the American defending champion and third seed John Isner takes on Argentine sixth seed David Nalbandian for a place in the semi-finals against Almagro.