Berdych Eyes Top 10 with Semi at Stuttgart

Berdych is current No. 15 in the rankings, just once place away from his career-high mark of No. 14. By reaching the semifinals he is likely to move to No. 13 and could leapfrog Lleyton Hewitt and move to No. 12 if he reaches the final.

"I'm very happy with my performance today. I think it was one of my best matches during this tournament. Everything went well and I didn't have any problems," said Berdych who has been experiencing back problems. "When I'm not on the court it still hurts. But when I get ready and warm for the court and also during the match it was much better than yesterday. I will still see another doctor. But I think that it's going to be fine. (The semifinal) will be a tough match and I have to be ready. I will give my best and we'll see how it goes."

Second-seeded Berdych, who captured his 30th match win of the season, is poised to surpass his best season record of 34-29, achieved last year. The 20-year-old is bidding to become the fourth man this year (Federer, Nadal, Gasquet) to reach finals on both clay and grass. (Berydch lost to Federer in the Halle final). Berdych last year was the only player other than Federer or Nadal to win an ATP Masters Series title when he captured the Paris title in the final week of the regular season.

Berdych totally outplayed Lapentti Friday, winning 54 points to 25, conceding just nine points on his own serve and breaking Lapentti five times. Berdych stormed to a 5-0 lead. After winning the first set, the Czech went 2-0 up in the second but Lapentti levelled to 2-2. Berdych won the last four games, losing only one point.

Third seed Ferrer jumped on the second serve of Florian Mayer -- winning 77 percent of points -- to claim a 6-4, 6-3 win in 66 minutes. At 4-5 in the first set Mayer had four break points to get back into the set but couldn?t convert. Ferrer raced to a 5-1 lead in the second set.

In the first quarterfinal Friday, Juan Monaco advanced to his second semifinal of the year (Costa do Sauipe) when Peru's Luis Horna retired with a right elbow injury while trailing 2-5 in the first set. Horna took a 2-0 lead but Monaco won the next 5 games before Horna retired.

Monaco is making his first appearance since pushing World No. 4 Ivan Ljubicic to five sets in the third round of Roland Garros.

Jose Acasuso cruised into the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Oliver Marach. Acasuso broke Marach twice in the first set and once in the second. Marach couldn't convert any of his three break chances.
-- ATP