Ferrer cruises in Auckland semifinals

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- No. 1-seeded David Ferrer dropped just three games Thursday in rolling into the semifinals of the Heineken Open tennis tournament in New Zealand.

Ferrer, the event's two-time defending champion, dispatched Lukas Lacko 6-2, 6-1 in 54 minutes. Ferrer lost only 12 points on serve and saved the only break-point chance Lacko had. He also finished off four breaks in seven receiving games.

Gael Monfils earned a semifinals shot at Ferrer with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over third-seeded Tommy Haas. The match took more than twice as long as Ferrer's and each player won 96 points.

But Monfils lost serve only twice -- despite Haas having 17 break points -- and saved all seven break points in the third set. He had 19 aces but also eight double faults.

Second-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber recorded the only break of the match in a 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 win over Xavier Malisse and No. 4-seeded Sam Querrey came away a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) winner over Jesse Levine in Thursday's other quarterfinals.

Monfils, who has seen his rankings slip to No. 99 18 months after reaching No. 7 in the rankings, owns a 3-0 record versus Ferrer. Querrey is 2-1 versus Kohlschreiber.