Robin Soderling battled through to the semifinals of the Swedish Open Friday with a hard-fought victory over Italy's Andreas Seppi on a day when four of the top five seeds won. Top-seeded Soderling prevailed in three sets 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) at the clay-court tournament, but was given a scare by the 76th-ranked Seppi. The Italian took the first set after breaking Soderling with the score at 2-2. The big-serving Swede, who hit 13 aces during the game, won the second despite at one point trailing 3-5. The third set was even closer, with both players having chances to win the match before Soderling won the tie-break. Soderling will face David Ferrer in the next round, after he swept Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 6-3 on center court. Also making it through to the last four is Spain's Tommy Robredo, who defeated compatriot Fernando Verdasco in straight sets 6-4, 6-3. Robredo plays countryman Nicolas Almagro, who came from behind to beat Croatia's Franco Skugor in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 in the final quarterfinal match of the day. Pennetta in semis In Italy, top-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy is on course for a successful defense of the Palermo Open title after a straight-sets win over Nuria Llagostera Vives in the quarterfinals. Pennetta beat the Spaniard 6-4, 6-2 and will now meet eighth seed Julia Goerges, who beat Jill Craybas 6-2, 6-4. In the other semifinal, wildcard Romina Oprandi will face fifth-seeded Kaia Kanepi. Italy's Oprandi defeated second-seeded Aravane Rezai of France 7-5, 6-0, while Kanepi beat third-seeded Sara Errani of Italy 6-2, 6-2. Schnyder in last 4 In Prague, Patty Schnyder of Switzerland rallied past Anna Tatishvili of Georgia 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Prague Open. In Saturday's semifinal, Schnyder will face eighth-seeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic who overcame Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. In another quarterfinal, Czech Lucie Hradecka upset fifth-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-4, 7-5 and will face seventh-seeded Agnes Szavay in the second semifinal. The Hungarian dismissed Slovenia's Polona Hercog 6-1, 6-4. Melzer falls to Montanes In Stuttgart, fifth-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain has upset second-seeded Juergen Melzer 6-4, 6-1 to reach the semifinals of the Mercedes Cup. The No. 30 Montanes, aiming for his second clay-court title of the year, needed just 57 minutes to beat Melzer on Friday for his first victory over the Austrian in seven years. In Saturday's semifinals, Montanes will face compatriot and fourth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero after Ferrero beat Simon Greul of Germany 6-3, 7-5 to remain on course for his third ATP title of the year. In the other semifinal, Gael Monfils of France plays Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver. Monfils came back to beat Germany's Florian Mayer 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Gimeno-Traver, who eliminated No. 1 seed Nikolay Davydenko in the second round, beat Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli 6-1, 6-3.
