Tsonga among Vienna semifinalists

VIENNA, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga needed to rally for a victory in Friday's quarterfinal play of the Erste Bank Open tennis tournament in Vienna.

Tsonga out-battled Xavier Malisse for a 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 win. Tsonga fired 20 aces and won 72 percent of the points on serve. Malisse, who had 10 aces, won 74 percent on serve and there were just two breaks in the tournament.

Tsonga won 20-of-21 points on serve in the third set and converted one of three break-point opportunities in the third set. Those were his only break chances of the match.

No. 2-seeded Juan Martin del Potro lost only seven points over nine service games in a 6-2, 6-4 win over Tommy Haas and sixth-seeded Kevin Anderson posted a 6-3, 6-2 upset of No. 3-seeded Jurgen Melzer behind a serve that lost eight points in nine games.

Daniel Brands had three service breaks in beating Steve Darcis 6-3, 6-4.

Tsonga will go against Brands in Saturday's semifinals and Del Porto plays Anderson. Both Tsonga and del Porto own 1-0 lifetime records over their opponents.