“The scoreline is misleading,” said Ferrero, who will play Stepanek in the semifinals. “It was a very tough match.”

Stepanek ousted eighth-seeded Lopez, despite the Spaniard not dropping his serve in a meeting of two serve-and-volleyers. Stepanek went ahead 6-3 in the first-set tiebreaker but lost two set points before winning 10-8.

“I was simply luckier today,” Stepanek said.

Lopez improved on his form of the previous round and appeared to be moving around the court better. However, he could not break his opponent’s serve and lost the second tiebreaker.

Lopez rejected the notion that he was disturbed by Stepanek’s moans as he was hitting the ball. Stepanek has been asked by several players to stop groaning, but abandoned his attempts when it affected his game.

Fourth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia beat Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3, 7-5 to remain the only player in the tournament yet to lose a set.

Ljubicic will play sixth-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain, who topped Jean-Rene Lisnard of France 6-1, 6-1.

Blake, Rochus reach semifinals
Olivier Rochus rallied from a set down to beat Jonas Bjorkman and James Blake defeated Alberto Martin on to advance to the semifinals of the Stockholm Open in Stockholm, Sweden.

Fifth-seeded Rochus won 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 to snap the Swede’s eight-match win streak, while Blake routed Martin 6-1, 6-2. Blake will face Ruchus on Saturday.

“Alberto is a great player, but he had a bad day,” Blake said. “I’d like to think that was partly because of me. I was putting pressure on him the whole time. I served very well, and once you get rolling with one part of your game the rest of it follows, so it’s a good feeling.”

The sixth-seeded Blake is playing in his first tournament since his run to the U.S. Open quarterfinals in September, where he lost to Andre Agassi.

Blake won his second career title in August at New Haven and played in Belgium two weeks ago in the Davis Cup playoff.

“I’ve come over a few times and not had much success, which is frustrating,” Blake said. “I like playing indoors. I feel really good here even though it’s not the same kind of crowds as I have on my side in the United States.”

Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan moved into the semifinals after upsetting defending champion Thomas Johansson 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Paradorn, the 2002 Stockholm champion, will play his fourth semifinal of the year against Davide Sanguinetti of Italy, who beat German qualifier Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 6-3.

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