Halep only seed in semifinals in Morocco

FES, Morocco, April 22 (UPI) -- Simona Halep won in a rout Friday in advancing to the semifinals of the Moroccan Grand Prix tennis tournament.

Halep, the tournament's No. 7 seed, won 64 percent of the points -- 68 percent when receiving -- in a 6-2, 6-1 romp over fourth-seeded Greta Arn. Halep and Arn were the only seeded players to make the tournament quarterfinals.

Halep dropped serve twice in the first set but won 76 percent of the points off Arn's serve and piled up four breaks. She had two more breaks in the second set.

Kirsten Flipkens ended the Cinderella showing of Moroccan wild-card entrant Nadia Lalami. Lalami had a pair of wins this week, including an upset of top-seeded Aravane Rezai, but Flipkens needed a mere 45 minutes to brush Lalami aside 6-0, 6-1.

Alberta Brianti used a dominant third-set performance to break open a tight match and beat Melanie Oudin 7-5, 5-7, 6-0, and Dinara Safina outlasted Anastasia Pivovarova 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in a match that took 3 1/2 hours.

Saturday's semifinals have Flipkens going against Halep, who won their only previous meeting, while Safina meets Brianti. Safina is 1-0 against Brianti.