TOKYO, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt rallied from a set down to beat Francisco Clavet of Spain, the eighth seed, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, to move into the semifinals of the $870,000 Japan Open hardcourt tennis event Friday.
Meanwhile, American James Blake stunned seventh-seeded Marcelo Rios of Chile, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, to set up a rematch of his five-set U.S. Open encounter with Hewitt.
On the women's side, top seed Monica Seles reached her fifth WTA final of the year by posting a 7-5, 6-4 victory over No. 3 Ai Sugiyama of Japan.
Hewitt, who has claimed four titles this year, extended his winning streak to 12 matches, including his seven victories on the way to lifting the U.S. Open trophy. But his lengthy second-round battle with Blake was tarnished when Hewitt appeared to hint that a black linesman was favoring Blake, who is black.
Hewitt said his action was not meant to be racist, Blake downplayed the incident and he went on to take his first career Grand Slam title. In addition to winning at Flushing, New York last month, the Australian also won both of his singles matches to help his nation beat Sweden and reach the Davis Cup final for the third straight year.
Blake's only match since his exit from the U.S. Open came on September 24. The Yonkers, New York native lost to Michael Chang in the opening round of the Salem Open.
Seles reached her fifth final this season. She won titles in Oklahoma City and last month in Brazil, and advanced to the semifinals at three other events before this week.
The American will face either No. 2 Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand or No. 8 Joannette Kruger of South Africa in the final. Tanasugarn routed Japanese wild-card entrant Saori Obata, 6-0, 6-2 in the quarterfinals on Friday, while Kruger battled back to defeat Switzerland's Emmanuelle Gagliardi, 0-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Tanasugarn and Kruger will contest their semifinal on Saturday.
The other men's semifinal pits fifth seed Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland against unseeded Karol Kucera of Slovakia. Kratochvil eliminated second seed Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-3, in the quarterfinals. Kucera ended the run of Japanese wild-card entrant Takao Suzuki, 6-3, 6-3.
