Paire rolls into semis at Chennai Open

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CHENNAI, India, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Benoit Paire, losing only one game Thursday, steamrolled his way into the quarterfinals of the Aircel Chennai Open tennis tournament in India.

Paire, seeded fifth, routed Dudi Sela 6-1, 6-0 in just 40 minutes. He won two-thirds of the points in the match, saved the only two break points he faced and had five breaks in Sela's six games serving.

He dropped just nine points -- two on serve -- in the second set.

Top-seeded Tomas Berdych was nearly as sharp, dispatching Somdev Devvarman 6-3, 6-1 in just more than an hour. Berdych didn't have a deal with a break point while losing a mere seven points in eight service games.

No. 3-seeded Marin Cilic needs to rally for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Sergiy Stakhovsky in his quarterfinal. Stakhovsky managed just on break opportunity after the first set.

Also Thursday, Roberto Bautista Agut stopped Matthias Bachinger 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, countering three dropped service games with four breaks.

Bautista Agut takes on Berdych in the semifinals while Cilic and Paire are matched against each other Friday. In the other half of the draw, second-seeded Janko Tipsarevic takes on eighth-seeded Go Soeda and No. 4-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka plays Aljaz Bedene.