Brands joins top seeds in Doha semis

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DOHA, Qatar, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Qualifier Daniel Brands won Thursday and will join top seeds David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet in the semifinals of the Qatar Exxon Mobil Open tennis tournament.

Brands eliminated 2012 tournament runner-up Gael Monfils 6-1, 7-5, winning nearly three-quarters of the points on serve. He finished off both his break opportunities in the first set and ended Monfils' hopes of a comeback with two more in the second.

Ferrer dumped Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-0 without allowing Lorenzi a break-point opportunity. Ferrer lost only nine points in the second-set shutout.

Gasquet defeated Lukas Lacko 6-1, 6-3. The game he lost in the first set was a service break but he had five of his own over the course of the match. At 1 hour, 11 minutes, it was the longest of the four quarterfinals Thursday.

Nikolay Davydenko had the shortest match of the day -- 50 minutes -- in a 6-1, 6-1 romp over Simone Bolelli. Davydenko won more than 70 percent of the points in the match. He took three-quarters of the points on serve while going 5-for-5 in break chances.

Davydenko earned a semifinal slot opposite Ferrer, against whom he is 3-2 lifetime. Gasquet takes a 1-0 career mark against Brands into the other semifinal.