Roddick wins in Brisbane quarterfinal

BRISBANE, Australia, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Andy Roddick and No. 4-seeded Tomas Berdych won Friday, putting the top four seeded into the semifinals of the Brisbane International in Australia.

Roddick fought off a game Richard Gasquet for a 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) quarterfinal win and Berdych took a pair of tiebreakers in getting past eighth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).

Berdych and Roddick are paired against each other in Saturday's tournament semifinals. On Thursday, second-seeded Radek Stepanek and third-seeded Gael Monfils earned the other semifinal slots.

Roddick blasted 16 aces -- double faulted just once -- and didn't face a break point against Gasquet. Roddick is showing few issues with a knee injury that forced him to curtail play late last season.

Berdych needed 2 hours, 42 minutes to get past Bellucci. He managed just one service break and won only four more points than Bellucci (108-104) over the course of the match but advanced on the strength of solid play in the tiebreakers.

The winners of Saturday's matches will advance to the title finals Sunday with a first-place prize of $63,800 at stake.