Santoro wins twice to reach semifinals

NEWPORT, R.I., July 10 (UPI) -- Fabrice Santoro, seeking his third straight title at the event, won two matches Friday to reach the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.

Because the tournament schedule had been disrupted all week by rain, officials were forced to send several players out twice Friday to get through the quarterfinal round.

Santoro began his day by defeating Taylor Dent 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 and then won over Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 6-4.

Santoro's semifinal foe will be third-seeded Sam Querrey, who also posted two victories Friday. He ousted Prakash Amritraj 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 6-2 and then defeated Kevin Kim 6-3, 6-4.

The other Saturday semifinal will send Oliver Rochus against Rajeev Ram.

Rochus defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 and Brendan Evans 6-4, 6-4. Ram recorded a 6-4, 6-2 win over Samuel Groth and then fought off Jesse Levine 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).