HALLE, Germany — Ivo Karlovic served an ATP record 45 aces in beating third-seeded Tomas Berdych Friday, while Roger Federer and Kei Nishikori also progressed to the Gerry Weber Open semifinals. Karlovic defeated Berdych 7-5, 6-7 (8), 6-3, finishing it off with an ace on match point as the big-serving Croat eclipsed the previous ATP record of 44 for a best-of-three-sets match, which he shared with Mark Philippoussis. "I always like when I'm best at something, so if it's aces I'm happy about it," said Karlovic, who hit 44 aces at Zagreb in February last year. The men's record in any singles is 113 aces, by John Isner in his marathon Wimbledon win in 2010 over Nicolas Mahut, who hit 103. Karlovic will next play Federer, who won 6-0, 7-6 (1) against Germany's Florian Mayer as he moved closer to a record eighth title. The second-seeded Nishikori beat Poland's Jerzy Janowicz 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in 2 _ hours and next meets No. 4 Gael Monfils or Italy's Andreas Seppi. Simon beats Raonic Gilles Simon reached his third semifinal of the year by eliminating third-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 at Queen's Club Friday. The seventh-seeded Frenchman surrendered the opening set on a single break of serve at 1-1, but in a 12-minute game at 2-2 in the second set he fought off three break points before breaking for a 4-2 lead. Neither player earned a break point in the final set until at 5-5, when a netted backhand gave Simon the decisive break. He needed five match points to close it out in 2 hours, 18 minutes. Simon will next play South Africa's Kevin Anderson, who beat Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (7), 7-5. Mladenovic topples top seed Halep Kristina Mladenovic, only the third best French player and ranked outside the top 40, ousted top seed Simona Halep to reach the Birmingham semifinals Friday. The 22-year-old Switzerland-based player of Serbian parentage won an eventful match by 2-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7/4), upsetting a seed for the third successive time and announcing herself only ten days before Wimbledon as a force to be reckoned with on grass courts. Mladenovic next faces the tall, steep-serving Karolina Pliskova. The 23-year-old Czech is the youngest top 12 player, the third youngest in the top 20, and still improving, something she showed very well in a 6-2, 6-2 win over Carla Suarez Navarro, the third seeded Spaniard whose skills are best suited to clay. Murray survives Muller scare Andy Murray survived a major scare to keep his bid for a record-equaling fourth Queen's Club title on track with a hard-fought victory over Luxembourg's Gilles Muller in the quarterfinals Friday. Murray dropped the first set and was taken to a tie-break in the second before finally prevailing 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 to reach the last four at the Wimbledon warm-up event for the fourth time. But he did just enough to secure a semifinal meeting with John Isner of the United States or Serbia's Viktor Troicki Saturday. Earlier, South Africa's Kevin Anderson powered into the semi-finals with a 7-6 (9/7), 7-5 victory against Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Anderson's last four opponent will be French seventh seed Gilles Simon, who fought back from a set down to defeat world number eight Milos Raonic 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. - Agencies
