Blake advances to Weber semifinals

HALLE, Germany, June 13 (UPI) -- No. 2 seed James Blake needed a pair of tiebreaker wins Friday to move into the semifinals of the $1.12 million Gerry Weber Open tennis tournament in Germany.

The decision moved Blake into Saturday's semifinals against Philipp Kohlschreiber while the other semifinal features world No. 1 Roger Federer playing local favorite Nicolas Kiefer.

Blake played the tightest quarterfinal of the day Friday, winning 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) over Andreas Beck while Kohlschreiber advanced to the Weber semifinals for the second straight year with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) decision over Robin Soderling.

Federer skipped the Weber last year but won the event each year from 2003-06 and hasn't lost a match on a grass court since 2002. The latest victim in that string was fifth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, who fell, 6-4, 6-4, on Friday.

Kiefer should be fresh for the Federer match. He was leading 4-0 Friday when Michael Llodra retired with a left arm injury. Federer has won 10 of the 13 times he's played Kiefer, but Kiefer is the last player to have beaten Federer at Halle, taking a semifinal match in 2002.