HOUSTON — Fernando Verdasco booked his first ATP semifinal of 2014 Friday, powering home to beat Donald Young 7-6 (7/1), 6-1 in the US Men's Clay Court Championship. The fourth-seeded Spanish veteran admitted Young's solid play had him feeling “uncomfortable” in the opening set, but once he'd pocketed the tiebreaker he was on his way. “He played great tennis in the first set,” Verdasco said. “I kept fighting and he didn't serve well in the game I broke him. After that he started missing a little more, including in the tie-break.” Verdasco next faces Santiago Giraldo, who defeated Alejandro Gonzalez 6-3, 6-4 in an all-Colombian clash. The 26-year-old Giraldo will be playing the fifth ATP semi-final of his career and his second in 2014. He fell to Leonardo Mayer in the semis at Vina del Mar earlier this year. Third-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro also advanced, downing American Jack Sock 6-2, 6-4. Almagro will face American Sam Querrey, who fired 15 aces and saved all four break-points he faced in a 6-3, 6-7 (8/10), 6-3, victory over Germany's Dustin Brown. Querrey, a former world No. 17, is in the final four in Houston for the second time. He finished runner-up in 2010. Almagro will be trying to improve on his runner-up finish in Houston last year, when he lost to American John Isner in the final. Lopez upsets Paire In Casablanca, eighth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain beat third-seeded Benoit Paire of France 7-5, 7-6 (4) Friday to reach the semifinals of the Grand Prix Hassan II Tennis Tournament. Garcia-Lopez served for the match after breaking Paire for the fifth time, but the Frenchman broke straight back to force a tiebreaker. Garcia-Lopez prevailed, however, and next faces either qualifier Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain or Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia. Also, fourth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain had nine aces as he rallied to beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-0 in an all-Spanish match, breaking his opponent's serve six times. He next faces No.6 Federico Delbonis of Argentina, who beat Victor Hanescu 7-6 (5), 6-3, breaking the Romanian player's serve four times. — Agencies
