seeded Novak Djokovic reached the semifinals at the ABN Amro Indoors Tournament after his quarterfinal opponent Florian Mayer pulled out Thursday because of a leg injury. Djokovic had moved into the last eight by beating Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland 6-4, 6-2 and will now play either Gael Monfils or Mikhail Youzhny following Mayer's withdrawal after his victory Tommy Robredo Wednesday. The fourth-seeded Monfils downed local favorite Thiemo de Bakker 6-3, 6-2, and Youzhny defeated Turkish qualifier Marsel Ilhan 6-4, 6-4. “I had never played against Ilhan but I knew him as I saw him playing qualifying here,” Youzhny said. “Of course I have good memories in Rotterdam, winning here in 2007. I like it here, it is always a full stadium. It's nice to play here.” Second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko also advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, while France's Julien Benneteau beat Michael Berrer of Germany 6-4, 6-4 to set up a quarterfinal against third-seeded Robin Soderling. Easy for Roddick Top-seeded Andy Roddick beat American qualifier Ryler DeHeart 6-1, 7-6 (1) in the first round of the SAP Open Wednesday. Roddick was playing his first match since the Australian Open, when he was hindered by a sore right shoulder in a five-set loss to Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals. He has also been bothered by a knee injury that almost forced him to miss this tournament. Second-seeded Fernando Verdasco also progressed to the second round, overcoming Taiwan's Yen-hsun Lu 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 in a tighter than expected match. Radek Stepanek was the main casualty, as the No.3-seeded Czech was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Belgian Xavier Malisse. Stepanek was the first defending champion to exit in the first round at San Jose for 20 years. In second-round matches, Germany's Tommy Haas was also knocked out, with the No.4 seed beaten by Uzbekistan's Dennis Istomin 7-6 (3), 6-2. Haas blew five set points. Then in the second set, the German double-faulted on break point in his first service game and was broken to love to lose the match. Fifth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych won through with a 6-3, 6-2 stroll past Jarkko Nieminen, while Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber, seeded sixth, had an even easier time with a 6-2, 6-0 thrashing of Dudi Sela. In earlier matches Wednesday, Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic became the first defending champion in two decades to lose in the first round of the SAP Open, falling 6-3, 6-4 to Xavier Malisse of Belgium. The third-seeded Stepanek was broken once in each set to become the first defending champion to lose his first match the following year at this tournament since Brad Gilbert was knocked out by Gary Muller in 1990. Stepanek beat Mardy Fish for the title last year in San Jose after losing the championship the previous year to Roddick. Stepanek wasn't the only seeded player to fall Wednesday. Fourth-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany lost his second-round match to Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-6 (3), 6-2. In other second-round matches, German Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Dudi Sela of Israel 6-2, 6-0, and Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic beat Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-2. Petkovic upsets Rezai Andrea Petkovic of Germany upset fifth-seeded Aravane Rezai of France 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals at the Open GDF Suez. Petkovic will next face top-seeded Elena Dementieva. Shahar Peer defeated Croatia's Karolina Sprem 6-4, 6-3. The sixth-seeded Israeli will play Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, who defeated seventh-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy 7-5, 6-2. Agnes Szavay beat Croatia's Petra Martic, 6-2, 6-4. The Hungarian will face Melanie Oudin of United States, who topped Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-1, 6
