Top-seeded Tomas Berdych defeated Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 6-3, 6-3 Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Chennai Open.
Third-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, No. 6 Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia and seventh-seeded Xavier Malisse of Belgium also reached the last four.
Berdych broke his 112th-ranked opponent in the fourth game and held on to take the first set. Both players then struggled on their serve in the second, which featured six breaks.
''In the beginning I was a little surprised at how he was playing,'' said Berdych, who will face Wawrinka next. ''I had never played him before so it was a little tough to know what to expect.''
Wawrinka, who reached the final here last year, rallied to beat eighth-seed Robin Haase of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a rain-affected match.
Tipsarevic overpowered Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4, 6-4 and Malisse beat Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-0, 6-2.
The 49th-ranked Tipsarevic, a member of Serbia's 2010 Davis Cup winning team, broke Nishikori in the seventh game of the opening set.
Nishikori, who beat two-time defending champion Marin Cilic in the first round, went a break up early in the second set, but the Serbian broke back in the third game and then again in the seventh.
''I knew that he had run a lot in his previous two matches so I was happy to get off to a good start and to finish the match in two sets,'' Tipsarevic said. ''If it had gone to three sets, even if I had won, I would be so much more tired for my match tomorrow.''
Malisse won his match in 72 minutes.
''I played really well from the start of the match,'' Malisse said. ''We had a long game at 2-0 in the first set which I managed to win and after that it was tough for him to come back.''
