Robredo enters Heineken Open semis

Auckland: Top-seeded Tommy Robredo won two matches on Thursday en route to the semifinals of the Heineken Open tennis tournament. Robredo beat fellow Spaniard Alberto Martin 6-4, 6-2 and defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 after organizers scheduled consecutive second-round and quarterfinals matches to clear a backlog caused by rain. Robredo took only 72 minutes to defeat Martin in the second round, attacking his opponent's serve to win an early break. "I live five minutes from his place in Barcelona, and we sometimes practice together. He's a great player but he's coming back after a lot of injury," Robredo said. Against Kohlschreiber, he ran through the first set with a break in the opening game, then gave up the second with a single break and conceded a set for the first time at the tournament. He won the third comfortably, recovering his serving rhythm and standing behind the baseline to cope with Kohlschreiber's powerful groundstrokes. "The tactic today was to have a lot more space from the baseline. Every time there were more than 10 strokes in the rally, I think I won," Robredo said. Ancic loses Meanwhile, American Mardy Fish defeated Mario Ancic 6-4, 6-4, and later defeated Juan Ignacio Chela of Chile 7-6 (3) 7-6 (8) in a marathon quarterfinal. Chela had already beat Nicolas Massu 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. "Beating someone of Mario's caliber is a great achievement. I've had the better of him the few times we've played, but it's always a tough contest," Fish said. Also, third-seeded David Ferrer of Spain reached the semifinals with a 6-0, 6-1 second round win over Daniele Bracciali of Italy, who was struggling with a back injury, and a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 quarterfinal win over Kristof Vliegen of Belgium. Fish will play Ferrer and Robredo will play Agustin Calleri of Argentina in Friday's semifinals. Calleri beat Florent Serra of France 6-4, 6-1 in the second round and struggled past Argentinean qualifier Juan Monaco 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a three-hour quarterfinal. Monaco had previously ousted Olivier Rochus of Belgium 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.