Del Potro, Berdych into Dubai semifinals
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, March 1, 2013
Juan Martin del Potro reached the Dubai Championships semifinals for a second straight year when he dispatched German qualifier Daniel Brands 6-4, 6-2 in the Gulf emirate yesterday.
Del Potro managed to neutralize the big-serving Brands and offered up some of his own firepower, hitting seven aces, including six in the first set. He also said his right wrist, which he injured in 2010, was not bothering him as much as it did earlier in the tournament and that he now "could play 100 percent".
The first set was tight as both players held serve through the first nine games until mistakes from the 97th-ranked German allowed Del Potro to break him and win the set. The second was much easier, as the Argentine broke Brands twice.
Tomas Berdych is also through to the last four, the Czech third seed seeing off Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-3, 6-2.
In Kuala Lumpur, defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Chinese Taipei won back-to-back matches yesterday to reach the Malaysian Open quarterfinals.
Hsieh beat Kurumi Nara of Japan 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 in a match lasting 2 hours, 42 minutes and had only a few hours of rest before defeating China's Zhang Shuai 6-2, 6-2.
The second seed completed her first- and second-round matches on the same day after thunderstorms disrupted play earlier this week.
Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria won 6-3, 6-2 against Wang Qiang of China, who ousted top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the first round.
Others moving into today's quarterfinals are fourth-seeded Ayumi Morita of Japan, American wildcard entry Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, Thailand's Luksika Kumkhum, Ashleigh Barty of Australia and Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
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