Bastad, Sweden – Spanish stars and former champions David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro were a pair of quarterfinal winners Friday at the clay-court Swedish Open.
The top-seeded Ferrer held off wild card and fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 in just over two hours, while a second-seeded Almagro outlasted compatriot Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-3 in 2 hours, 15 minutes at Bastad Tennis Stadium. The former top-10 star Robredo, who just returned to action this week following a lengthy injury layoff, is a two-time Bastad champ.
Ferrer titled here in 2007 by beating the 2010 winner Almagro in the final and was last year's Bastad runner-up to Swedish slugger Robin Soderling.
Up next for the world No. 5 Ferrer will be sixth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, while the 10th-ranked Almagro will face Czech Jan Hajek in Saturday's semifinals.
Friday's other quarters saw the talented Dimitrov upend third-seeded Spaniard Albert Ramos 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 and Hajek edge out Estonian Jurgen Zopp 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Dimitrov will appear in his second career ATP-level semifinal.
Sunday's title match winner will collect $79,000.
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