Fish makes it to Auckland semifinals

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Mardy Fish upset two higher-ranked players Thursday to claim a spot in the semifinals of the Heineken Open tennis tournament in New Zealand.

Play was backed up because of rain earlier in the week, squeezing the second and quarterfinal rounds into Thursday.

Fish opened his day with a straight-set victory over second-seeded Mario Ancic, 6-4, 6-4 and took two tiebreakers in defeating Juan Ignacio Chela 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (10-8) in the quarterfinals.

He advances to Friday's semifinals against third-seeded David Ferrer, who advanced with an easy 6-0, 6-1 romp over Daniele Bracciali in the second round and a tough 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Kristof Vlegen in the quarters.

The other semifinal Friday pits top-seeded Tommy Robredo against seventh-seeded Agustin Calleri. Robredo was pushed to three sets in the quarterfinals, finally topping Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. Calleri also needed three sets in his second match Thursday before winding up a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victor over Juan Monaco.