MONACO – David Ferrer advanced to the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters by beating 11th-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-3, 6-3 on Friday.
The fourth-seeded Spaniard missed a chance to close out the match on serve when Troicki broke him in the eighth game of the second set, but Ferrer broke back to reach his fourth semifinal of the season.
The Australian Open semifinalist has won two titles this year and next plays either Roger Federer or seventh-seeded Jurgen Melzer.
Also, six-time defending champion Rafael Nadal was to play Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, and third-seeded Andy Murray of Britain was to face Portuguese qualifier Frederico Gil.