Former world No. 3 David Nalbandian, who has missed the past six Grand Slam events with injuries, reached his first ATP semifinal in 18 months Friday at the Washington Classic. Argentine rallied to oust Frenchman Gilles Simon 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and will play for a spot in Sunday's hardcourt final against Croatian fourth seed Marin Cilic, who beat Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. Nalbandian was sidelined nine months after hip surgery, made a brief return early this year, then missed two months with a sore hamstring before returning in July to help Argentina advance to the Davis Cup semi-finals. “I feel good,” Nalbandian said. “I will just try to keep believing in my game and play the best I can.” The other semifinal pits Belgium's 62nd-ranked Xavier Malisse, who upset Czech top seed Tomas Berdych 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, against Cypriot eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis, who eliminated Spanish third seed Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. Nalbandian, the 2002 Wimbledon runner-up, has not played in a Grand Slam event since losing in the second round of last year's Australian Open to Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun. The 28-year-old South American, playing his first ATP event since April this week, reached his first semi-final since February of last year at Buenos Aires. He last won an ATP title the month before that in Sydney but is on a roll now. “During practice I know I can go far,” he said. “Without playing matches, it's tough to know how far you can go.” Both Nalbandian and Simon, who missed nearly three months this year with a right knee injury, sprayed unforced errors throughout the match and five of 12 12 service break in the match came in the last set. After an early exchange, Nalbandian broke again on his third chance of the sixth game, surrendered his next serve with a forehand beyond long, broke in five points to 5-3 when Simon netted a forehand and then held for the victory. Pennetta dumps Stosur French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur of Australia was ousted from the 700,000-dollar WTA San Diego Open Friday, losing a quarterfinal 6-4, 6-3 to Italian fifth seed Flavia Pennetta. Second seed Stosur joined Serbian top seed Jelena Jankovic and Russian third seed Vera Zvonareva on the scrapheap at the 700,000-dollar hardcourt tournament, a tuneup for the US Open that begins Aug. 30. Pennetta fired seven aces and blasted 19 winners past Stosur to book a semifinal berth against Svetlana Kuznetsova, who downed US teenager CoCo Vandeweghe 7-5, 6-2. In a battle of unseeded players, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia beat Russian Alisa Kleybanova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. In the semifinals Hantuchova will face fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who won the last nine games in a 6-2, 6-0 rout of Israeli Shahar Peer. Wozniacki in final Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki battled into the final of the Danish Open after beating Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 Saturday. Under pressure to win the inaugural Danish Open in front of her hometown crowd, Wozniacki wobbled in the previous two rounds, and again needed three sets to get through on Saturday. One time fifth-ranked Chakvetadze, who came through qualifying in Copenhagen, has been in resurgent form, and gave Wozniacki a tough test at the indoor hard court tournament. In Sunday's final, the third-ranked Wozniacki will face Klara Zakopalova after the Czech defeated second-seeded Li Na of China 6-3, 1-6, 6
