Almagro earns semifinal berth in Brazil

COSTA DO SAUIPE, Brazil, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Nicolas Almagro continued his solid start to the season Thursday by reaching the semifinals of the Brazil Open.

Almagro defeated Rui Machado in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 to set up a meeting with Juan Ignacio Chela.

This is the third tournament for Almagro in 2011. He also reached the semifinals of the Heineken Open and then made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open before losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

Chela earned a match with Almagro by defeating Thomaz Bellucci 6-1, 6-2.

The other semifinal match will send Alexandr Dolgopolov against Ricardo Mello.

Dolgopolov, a surprise quarterfinalist at the Australian Open, defeated Potito Starace 6-3, 6-4 and Mello was a 6-1, 6-0 winner over Pablo Andujar.