METZ, France -- Nikolay Davydenko continues to live up
to his top seeding at the Open de Moselle tennis tournament.
Davydenko cruised into the semifinals at the $390,000 hard-court
tournament with a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Italian Andreas Seppi on
Friday.
The Russian has yet to lose more than four games in a set this
week.
Davydenko next will face Ivan Ljubicic. The third seed from
Croatia, Ljubicic rallied past No. 5 Robin Soderling of Sweden,
6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4.
However, second seed Richard Gasquet fell to sixth seed and
fellow French teen Gael Monfils, 7-6 (3), 6-2, in their
quarterfinal clash.
Gasquet, who won his first career title on grass at Nottingham,
England in June, had been 1-0 on the ATP Tour against Monfils,
who claimed his first title on clay in Sopot, Poland in August.
In the final quarterfinal, No. 4 Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia defeated Australian wild card Mark Philippoussis, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.