MONTPELLIER, France — Michael Llodra of France and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland advanced to the Open Sud de France semifinals in contrasting fashion Friday. Llodra hit 11 aces in a 7-6 (3), 6-1 win against Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic, sealing the victory with a volley at the net, while Nieminen rallied to beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2), with both players dropping serve three times. Stakhovsky broke Nieminen to lead 3-1 in the deciding set, but Nieminen leveled immediately. Then Nieminen broke Stakhovsky in the 11th game only to be broken back. Llodra's semifinal opponent will be the winner of an all-French quarterfinal between fourth-seeded Gilles Simon and eighth-seeded Benoit Paire, while Nieminen takes on either third-seeded Richard Gasquet or No. 6 Julien Benneteau. Melzer, Haase advance In Croatia, fourth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria earned the 300th tour win of his career Friday to set up a Zagreb Indoors semifinal against Robin Haase of the Netherlands. Melzer defeated Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, while Haase ousted Philipp Petzschner of Germany 6-4, 3-6, 6-0. Melzer jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set and then saved four of the five break points he faced in the second, winning the last three games to seal the victory. Haase served 11 aces and broke Petzschner seven times, while saving nine of the 12 break points he faced. Nadal in doubles semis In Chile, Rafael Nadal's knee held up for a third straight day, and if he keeps winning it will be getting double the workout over the weekend. The Spaniard teamed with Juan Monaco to reach the doubles semifinals at the VTR Open with a 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory over Guillaume Ruffin and Filippo Volandri Thursday, his third match in three days after being away from the game for seven months with an ailing left knee and a stomach virus. Nadal was to play fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the singles quarterfinals Friday, and then faces the prospect of playing two matches a day over the weekend. Although that's exactly the type of test he'd been looking for as he tries to get his body back up to the level where he can challenge the likes of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray again. Li Na out of Qatar China's Li Na has pulled out of next week's $2.3 million Qatar Open after failing to recover from the ankle injury she suffered in her Australian Open final defeat to Victoria Azarenka. “Li Na has withdrawn from @QatarTennis due to her ankle injury from the Australian Open final. #WTA #tennis,” the WTA said on its Twitter account. The Qatar Open starts Monday. — Agencies
