Nieminen rides upset into Thai semifinals

BANGKOK, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Jarkko Nieminen posted the lone upset of Friday's four quarterfinal matches at the Thailand Open tennis tournament.

Nieminen, the No. 7 seed, defeated third-seeded Milos Raonic 6-3, 7-6 (7-3). Nieminen lost just 15 points in 11 service games and didn't face a break point. He posted the only break of the match in taking the first set and Raonic staved off three break points to force a tiebreaker.

The rest of the quarterfinals played to form with victories by No. 1-seed Janko Tipsarevic, second-seeded Richard Gasquet and fourth-seeded Gilles Simon.

Tipsarevic needed nearly 2 hours, however, to beat fifth-seeded Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. He finished off three of his five break chances, including both in the second set.

Gasquet took a tight 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 decision from Bernard Tomic without dropping serve and Simon topped Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-1 on the strength of five breaks.

The semifinals Saturday have Tipsarevic playing Simon and Gasquet taking on Nieminen. Simon owns a 4-1 series advantage over Tipsarevic but Tipsarevic won their most recent meeting. Gasquet is 3-1 over Nieminen.