ROTTERDAM, Netherlands: Former winner Tomas Berdych crushed defending champion Martin Klizan 6-3, 6-3 to set up a Rotterdam World Tennis semi-final with France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday.
The fourth seed will play for a spot in the final at the Ahoy stadium against Tsonga, who upset top seed Marin Cilic 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/5) in two hours.
The Czech won the 2014 title in the Dutch port city beating Cilic, while back in 2011 Tsonga lost to Swede Robin Soderling in the final.
Berdych also beat Tsonga in the first week of the year in Doha, but was badly mauled by Roger Federer at the Australian Open third round, which he cannot put out of mind.
David Goffin gained revenge for his defeat in last weekend’s Sofia final to Grigor Dimitrov by beating the in-form Bulgarian 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Doubles specialist Pierre-Hugues Herbert upset second seed Dominic Thiem 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) with the Frenchman having come through qualifying. Herbert was competing in only his second career singles quarter-final.
