Gaudio, Corretja reach Swiss semis

GSTAAD, Switzerland, July 12 (UPI) -- No. 7 Gaston Gaudio of Argentina and No. 8 Alex Corretja of Spain, the top seeds left in the field, Friday reached the semifinals at the Swiss Open.

Gaudio, who is seeking his third win of the year, defeated local favorite Marc Rosset, a wild card entrant, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3). Corretja, a two-time winner here, got past David Sanchez, 6-3, 6-3, in a battle of Spaniards.

Standing in Gaudio's path to the final will be 6-4 Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, who outlasted Spain's Galo Blanco, 6-3, 6-7 (10-12), 6-4.

Corretja will take on Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, who dispatched Hungary's Attila Savolt, 7-5, 6-2.

Gaudio, currently 17th in the ATP Champions Race, has won 19 of his last 21 matches on clay. He captured titles earlier this year in Barcelona and Mallorca.

But he will be facing a powerful server in Ljubicic, who had 21 aces and won 51 of 54 points on his serve against Blanco. He has not faced a break point in his last two matches.

Ljubicic still needed three sets to advance as he squandered a pair of match points in the long second-set tiebreaker.

"I was a little mad with myself for not winning in the second set," said Ljubicic, who has split four career meetings with Gaudio. "I had two match points. On one, I didn't make a short ball. I should have come in. I'm glad I learned something without losing the match."

Corretja overcame an 0-3 deficit in the second set, reeeling off six straight games to reach his first semifinal since losing to eventual champion Albert Costa at the French Open. Corretja has not played in a final this year.

"I like to play in Gstaad," he said. "It's nice that the people like to watch me play. I've been playing for a long time and I won twice here. I feel like home and I know the people."