Berdych sharp in China Open quarterfinal

BEIJING, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- No. 3-seeded Tomas Berdych lost just one game Friday in securing a berth in the semifinals at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing.

Berdych blew past Fernando Verdasco 6-1, 6-0. The only game he lost came on serve. He dropped only nine points over the other six service games. He won two-thirds of the points and was 6-of-8 in break-point chances on Verdasco's serve.

He'll go against top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Saturday's semifinals. Tsonga didn't face a break point in ousting Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-4 in his quarterfinal.

The other semifinal sends Ivan Ljubicic against Marin Cilic, both of whom won in three sets Friday.

Ljubicic got by Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 6-2 behind a pair of third-quarter service breaks. Cilic was a 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-1 winner over Kevin Anderson.

Ljubicic won both of his previous matches against Cilic. The other semifinal will mark the first time Berdych and Tsonga meet on the court.