Almagro, Delbonis advance to semifinals

HAMBURG, Germany: Third-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain rallied to beat defending champion Juan Monaco of Argentina 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 Friday for a place in the semifinals of the German Tennis Championships.
Qualifier Federico Delbonis of Argentina upset 14th-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-7 (5), 7-6 (8), 6-4 to make the semifinals of a tournament for the second time in his career.
The fifth-seeded Monaco beat Almagro in the Hamburg semifinals last year.
Delbonis’ previous semifinal appearance was two years ago on clay in Stuttgart.
After fending off a pair of match points in the second set, Delbonis failed to serve out the match at 5-3. He then wasted two match points on Verdasco’s serve before the Spaniard double-faulted on the third.

Serena eases into Swedish Open semis
In Bastad, Sweden, World No. 1 Serena Williams extended her unbeaten run on clay this season to 26 matches as she dismantled Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez 6-1, 6-1 and eased into the semi-finals of the Swedish Open on Friday.
The American 16-time Grand Slam winner will now play Czech Republic third seed Klara Zakopalova who had little trouble eliminating Dutch hope Richel Hogenkamp 6-2, 6-3.
Williams broke her opponent’s serve three times in each set and was never in trouble on her way into the final four.
The second semi-final will pit home favorite Johanna Larsson against Italian Flavia Pennetta after both players won their quarter-final matches in straight sets.
The 24-year-old Larsson, who is looking for her first WTA singles’ title, dropped just three games on the way to a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of Frenchwoman Mathilde Johansson.
Pennetta who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, and had a career high world ranking of 10 in 2009, also made short work of her French opponent with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over veteran Virginie Razzano.
The 31-year-old from Brindisi won the doubles titles in Sweden along with Gisela Dulko in 2009 and 2010 as she chases her first single’s title at Bastad and 10th WTA victory.
Pennetta and Dulko also teamed up to win the Australian Open doubles’ crown in 2011.