Tomas Berdych finished off Nicolas Mahut of France with his 14th ace in a 6-3, 6-4 victory Friday to reach the semifinals of the Open Sud de France.
The top-seeded Czech outplayed Mahut in the first set, hitting 18 winners and making only two unforced errors.
Mahut fought back in the second but double-faulted to give the 2010 Wimbledon finalist a 4-3 lead.
Second-seeded Gilles Simon also advanced by edging French wild card Guillaume Rufin 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-2.
Simon won the all-French match when a backhand from Rufin sailed long.
Rufin was let down by his serve in the final set, double-faulting five times and landing only 38 percent of his first attempts.
Simon took the first-set tiebreaker on a forehand error from Rufin.
Rufin hit two consecutive forehand winners to lead 6-2 in the second tiebreaker and leveled at one set apiece when Simon netted a backhand.
Simon will next play compatriot and defending champion Gael Monfils, who cruised past Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 6-3.
The third-seeded Monfils broke serve twice to win the first set when Nieminen sent a backhand volley into the net.
Nieminen, who won the Sydney International last month, hit a forehand wide to trail 3-1 in the second set.
Monfils did not face any break points and clinched victory when Nieminen netted a backhand return.
