Golubev advances with win over top seed

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Andrey Golubev knocked off top-seeded Robin Soderling in straight sets Friday during quarterfinal play at the Malaysian Open tennis tournament.

Golubev, seeded eighth, led from the outset in taking a 6-3, 6-2 win over Soderling, ranked fifth in the world. Golubev saved all four break-point chances he faced and was able to finish off four of the eight he forced on Soderling.

Golubev lost only 15 points in his eight service games in finishing off the match in 72 minutes.

The tournament opened with five of the 11 highest-ranked players in the world. After Friday's quarterfinals, only No. 9 Mikhail Youzhny and No. 11 David Ferrer remain from that group and they both needed come-from-behind wins Friday. World No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko was a second-round loser and No. 7 Tomas Berdych lost Friday.

Ferrer took out Berdych 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in a 2 1/2-hour match. Ferrer managed only three break points against Berdych but converted them all, including two in the third set.

Youzhny moved into Saturday's semifinals with a 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-1 victory over Marcos Baghdatis. Youzhny seemed to wear Baghdatis down in the 2-hour, 40-minute battle, winning 62 percent of the points in the third set.

Also Friday, in a battle of qualifiers, Igor Andreev defeated Milos Raonic 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

The semifinals send Ferrer against Golubev and Youzhny against Andreev.