Second-seeded Andy Roddick beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Brisbane International.
The eighth-ranked American hit seven aces and converted 65 percent of his first serve points to beat the 20th-ranked Baghdatis.
Baghdatis managed to hold serve only once in the opening set. In the second, his big shots matched Roddick until the eighth game, when the American broke at love.
Also, Kevin Anderson of South Africa rallied to beat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the last four.
Earlier, top-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden held on to beat Michael Berrer of Germany 6-3, 7-6 (7) and reach the quarterfinals
Soderling saved both break points he faced against the left-handed Berrer.
''It was tough today. Two sets, but they were both really close and I had to save some break points in the first set,'' the Swede said. ''The second one was really close and I was lucky to win this match in two sets. ... Tiebreaks are always a little different. You have to stay very focused. He came up with some good stuff in the tiebreak but I still managed to win it.''
Soderling's next opponent will be Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden, who defeated eighth-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-4.
Former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli of France beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1 to reach the women's semifinals.
The fourth-seeded Bartoli trailed 2-1 in the first set before winning the next eight games. She will next face Andrea Petkovic of Germany, who beat Jarmila Groth of Australia 6-3, 6-4.
Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic defeated Dominka Cibulkova 6-0, 6-4 and will meet fifth-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the other semifinal match.
Pavlyuchenkova led 6-2, 5-1 before holding off Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3.
