HOUSTON: Fernando Verdasco booked his first ATP semi-final of 2014 on Friday, powering home to beat Donald Young 7-6 (7/1), 6-1 in the US Men’s Clay Court Championship.

The fourth-seeded Spanish veteran admitted Young’s solid play had him feeling “uncomfortable” in the opening set, but once he’d pocketed the tiebreaker he was on his way.

“He played great tennis in the first set,” Verdasco said. “I kept fighting and he didn’t serve well in the game I broke him. After that he started missing a little more, including in the tie-break. After I won the tie-break I took extra confidence and started to be more stable on the court.” Verdasco next faces Santiago Giraldo, who defeated Alejandro Gonzalez 6-3, 6-4 in an all-Colombian clash.

The 26-year-old Giraldo will be playing the fifth ATP semi-final of his career and his second in 2014. He fell to Leonardo Mayer in the semis at Vina del Mar earlier this year.

Third-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro also advanced, downing American Jack Sock 6-2, 6-4.

Almagro will face American Sam Querrey, who fired 15 aces and saved all four break-points he faced in a 6-3, 6-7 (8/10), 6-3, victory over Germany’s Dustin Brown.

Querrey, a former world No. 17, is in the final four in Houston for the second time. He finished runner-up in 2010.

“You have to be ready for anything,” Querrey said of Brown’s varied game. “He might come in, he might stay back, he might serve and volley, slice a forehand, drop shot. You have to expect everything and not get frustrated when he wins points.” Almagro will be trying to improve on his runner-up finish in Houston last year, when he lost to American John Isner in the final.

Carjacking attempt

Wheelchair tennis’ US Open champion Lucas Sithole and his brother were dragged out of their car by four armed men in a late-night carjacking attempt in their native South Africa, the sport’s national federation said Saturday.

Both were unhurt, Wheelchair Tennis South Africa said, but had their cellphones stolen in the incident near a highway in Johannesburg at around 11.15 Friday night.

“I am glad my car, wallet and my life are still with me,” Sithole said in the statement.

Sithole’s car was also damaged after the armed men emerged from a vehicle in front of the brothers on a highway onramp and forced them out of their car, WTSA said.

“Although Lucas is shaken and traumatized, he was not physically injured or shot and is recovering well,” the statement said.

Sithole, 27, lost both his legs and his right arm in a train accident in 1998. He took up tennis and won the 2013 US Open title, becoming the first African player to win a wheelchair tennis Grand Slam event.

South Africa’s crime problem has been raised as an issue at the murder trial of double-amputee runner Oscar Pistorius, who is a multiple Paralympic champion, Olympic athlete and South Africa’s most famous disabled sportsman. Pistorius, who is also 27, claims he fatally shot his girlfriend by mistake last year thinking she was a dangerous intruder in his home.