BAD GASTEIN, Austria — Samantha Stosur advance to her second semifinal of the season by beating Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-3, 6-2 Friday at the Gastein Ladies. The second-seeded Australian, who won her seventh career title in Strasbourg in May, avoided break points to set up a semifinal match against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia. A week after winning in Bucharest, the seventh-seeded Schmiedlova kept her winning run going by defeating Annika Beck of Germany 6-2, 6-3. In a second-round match moved from Thursday because of thunder, Karin Knapp of Italy beat Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-3, 6-3. The third-seeded Knapp was scheduled to play Polona Hercog of Slovenia in the quarterfinals later Friday. Karlovic enters quarters Top-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia came back to defeat home-crowd favorite Daniel Elahi Galan 6-7 (12), 6-1, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Claro Open in Bogota Thursday. Karlovic will meet veteran wild card Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, who beat sixth-seeded Sam Groth of Australia 6-4, 6-0. Third-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France also didn't concede a break point on his way to a 7-5, 6-3 win over Rajeev Ram of the United States, setting up a quarterfinal against Malek Jaziri of Tunisia, who rallied to defeat American qualifier Alexander Sarkissian 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-2. Pironkova prevails Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria was the only seed — the No. 8 and last — to reach the Istanbul Cup quarterfinals Thursday. Pironkova defeated Kurumi Nara of Japan 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, then learned fourth-seeded Alize Cornet of France was overhauled by Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, and fifth-seeded Camila Giorgi lost an all-Italian match with Francesca Schiavone. Flipkens won 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, and Schiavone 6-4, 7-6 (6), for her first quarterfinal since February. They meet in the quarters. Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko, who ousted Venus Williams, beat Mona Barthel of Germany 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in their second-round match. Monfils makes quarterfinals Top-seeded Gael Monfils won the last eight games in beating Austrian qualifier Bastian Trinker 6-3, 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals of the Croatia Open Thursday. Monfils, who made the semifinals on his last appearance here in 2013, will face sixth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, who won the last four games to defeat Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 6-2, 7-5 “It will be tough,” said Monfils, who has beaten Kohlschreiber twice this year. “He is well prepared.” Second-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain also eased into the last eight by defeating Blaz Kavcic from Slovenia 6-1, 6-2. Bautista Agut, coming off a run to the Wimbledon last 16, made it to his fifth quarterfinals of the year. He will face Borna Coric of Croatia, who made the quarters for the second year in a row defeating Aljaz Bedene of Britain 6-4, 6-4. This is the fourth quarterfinal in 2015 for 18-year-old Coric, who is the youngest player in the top 50. Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria upset eight-seeded Martin Klizan of Slovakia 6-4, 6-4. Klizan broke early in both sets, but couldn't keep the lead. Haider-Maurer converted four out of 13 break points. Another Austrian, fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem, advanced after Dusan Lajovic retired because of heat-related exhaustion while trailing 6-1, 3-1. Last weekend, Lajovic played for Serbia in the Davis Cup quarterfinals loss in Argentina. Federer, Wawrinka return for Switzerland in Davis Cup Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka will play for Switzerland in the Davis Cup playoffs against the Netherlands. The best-of-five series is scheduled for Sept. 18-20 in Switzerland at a venue yet to be determined. The winner will play in the 16-nation World Group next year. Switzerland won the Davis Cup last year for the first time but the team has been without Federer and Wawrinka this season and was beaten by Belgium in the first round.— Agencies
