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Second-seeded Fernando Gonzalez (pictured) eventually booked his place in the China Open semifinals after three rain interruptions on Friday.

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Gonzalez, who is battling to qualify for Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai in November, beat No. 6 seed Hyung-Taik Lee 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4 in two hours and 24 minutes.

The match started at shortly after 12:30pm local time and was suspended due to rain on three occasions with Gonzalez leading at 3-0, 4-2 and 6-5 in the second set. The 27-year-old wrapped up his second career win over Lee at 5:57pm local time.

Lee drops to 4-24 against Top 10 players in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, while World No. 7 Gonzalez improves to 27-17 this year and is No. 11 in the Race to Shanghai with 311 points.

Gonzalez will hope to reach his third ATP-level final of the season (also the Australian Open and ATP Masters Series Rome) in Saturday’s semifinals against Croatian No. 4 seed Ivan Ljubicic – also a contender for one of five remaining spots at Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai.

Ljubicic snapped a three-match losing streak against No. 5 seed and defending champion Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5) win in two hours and 28 minutes.

Despite winning just seven points on the return of Baghdatis’ first serve, Ljubicic held his nerve to move to within two points of No. 8-ranked Tommy Haas of Germany in the ATP 2007 Race.

Ljubicic has added 11 points to his ATP 2007 Race total for 314 points overall. The 28-year-old Croatian has won two ATP titles at Doha (d. Murray) and ‘s-Hertogenbosch (d. Wessels) and is 40-17 for the year.

Third-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain advanced to his first hard-court semifinal since the first week of the season, when he lost in the Auckland final to Spanish compatriot David Ferrer.

Robredo cruised past Russian No. 8 seed Igor Kunitsyn 6-3, 6-1 in 66 minutes, breaking four times from six opportunities. Currently No. 12 in the ATP 2007 Race, Robredo has a 41-22 season record.

The 25-year-old Spaniard will take on German wild card Nicolas Kiefer, who advanced to his second ATP semifinal of the season with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Croatian teenager Marin Cilic. He also was a semifinalist in Los Angeles.

Kiefer converted four of 16 break points in the one hour and 35 minute match while Cilic was two of seven on break point chances. Kiefer improved to 11-6 on the season. The 30-year-old German will attempt to reach his first ATP final since St. Petersburg (l. to T. Johansson) in October 2005.

Thursday: Cilic Records Career First Top 10 Win
Activity: Baghdatis Checks Out in Tiananmen Square
Wednesday: Shanghai Hopefuls Reach Quarterfinals
Tuesday: Davydenko, Ljubicic Begin Title Quest
Monday: Gonzalez Comes Through Tricky Opener
Build-up: Ljubicic Enjoy Candlelit Gondola Ride

- Copyright © ATP Tour, Inc. 2007