CASABLANCA, Morocco — Top-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland cruised past Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-1, 6-2 Friday to move into the semifinals of the Grand Prix Hassan II. The 2010 champion will next play Tommy Robredo of Spain, who beat Benoit Paire of France 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-0. Second-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa also advanced to the last four by defeating Grega Zemlja of Slovenia 6-4, 6-4. He will face Martin Klizan of Slovakia or Robin Haase of the Netherlands. Wawrinka won seven straight games to win the first set and take a 2-0 lead in the second. The Swiss broke serve twice in each set and saved the only break point he faced with a forehand winner while serving for the match. He won when Garcia-Lopez sent a forehand wide. Almagro advances, Haas falls In Houston, top seed Nicolas Almagro fought back to beat Frenchman Gael Monfils 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 in Thursday's second round at the US Men's Clay Court Championship. Almagro grabbed the decisive break in the eighth game of the deciding set and the Spaniard will fancy his chances of securing a 13th clay-court title of his career in his first appearance at the Houston tournament. Almagro next faces Paolo Lorenzi who won an all-Italian duel by beating Flavio Cipolla 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 Fifth seed John Isner defeated 20-year-old fellow American wild card Jack Sock 7-5, 6-7, 7-6 in a match which featured just one break of serve. Isner is aiming to reach his third semifinal of 2013, following Delray Beach and San Jose, but first he must deal with Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis. The 73rd-ranked Berankis produced an upset beating 2004 Houston winner and No. 2 seed Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-3. The 35-year-old German Haas stumbled after his fine effort at the Sony Open last month where he defeated world No. 1 Novak Djkovic. It was just the second time this year the 35-year-old Haas lost his opening match. Third seed and defending champion Juan Monaco made his way safely through his opener, beating American Tim Smyczek 7-6, 6-1. American Rhyne Williams reached his first ATP World Tour quarterfinal by defeating 2007 Houston champion Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-4, 6-7, 7-6. Also, Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo ousted sixth-seeded fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-2 in 67 minutes. — Agencies
