Black Tennis Pros

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Top-seeded Gael Monfils of France breezed past Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan 6-1, 6-4 Friday to reach the semifinals of the South African Open.

Monfils converted all three of his break points to complete the win in 56 minutes and set up a meeting with third-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain, who beat American Rajeev Ram 7-6(2), 6-3.

"I felt very good out there, I played a fast game and my form seems just perfect," said the 13th-ranked Monfils.

Second-seeded David Ferrer of Spain also advanced by beating India's Somdev Devvarman 6-1, 6-3 in 64 minutes.

"I did play very well," Ferrer said. "Last year I lost in the semifinals here but hopefully this time I can get to the final."

Ferrer will face No. 8 Stephane Robert of France, who beat Jamaica's Dustin Brown 7-6 (5), 6-3.

"It helps to have a big serve when you're playing at altitude which is the case here in Johannesburg, and I don't have the biggest of serves," Robert said. "So my strategy these past few days has been to work hard on perfecting my returns of serve and I've done that pretty good, beating three guys now with cannonball serves."

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