ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Tomas Berdych defeated Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 Thursday to set up a semifinal meeting with top-ranked Rafael Nadal at the World Tennis Championships.
Robin Soderling stopped Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1 to set up a meeting with No. 2 Roger Federer. Nadal and Federer received byes into the semifinals of the exhibition.
``It is the just the perfect start by playing matches like this one and then the next day to play the No. 1 player in the world,'' said the sixth-ranked Berdych.
Berdych got off to a strong start against the error-prone Baghdatis, moving out to a 3-1 lead on his way to winning the first set. The 20th-ranked Cypriot rallied in the second set, mixing in drop shots with a potent serve that produced several aces to even the match.
Berdych appeared to be coasting in the third, breaking Baghdatis in the sixth game and taking a 5-2 lead. But erratic play by Berdych allowed Baghdatis back into the match. He tied it 5-5 with an ace before hitting a drop shot into the net to give Berdych a 6-5 lead on his way took to the win.
Baghdatis said he was satisfied with his performance despite the loss.
This is my first match in two months and to play a top player is not easy,'' he said.But I am pretty happy with my performance, playing good tennis, moving well on court. There were some moments in the match that I played well.''
The fifth-ranked Soderling took a 3-1 lead in the first set thanks to a powerful serve.
Tsonga found his rhythm in the second set, serving an ace to go up 4-3 and two more to go ahead 6-5 before rallying to win the tiebreaker.
Soderling took a 3-0 lead in the third set and cruised the rest of the way.