CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) -- Top-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain defeated Fabio Fognini of Italy 7-6 (1), 6-1 Friday to reach the semifinals of the Grand Prix Hassan II.
Montanes struggled on his first serve but converted three of his four break points to set up a semifinal match against fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar.
Fifth-seeded Potito Starace of Italy upset No.3 Gilles Simon 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and will face eighth-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania in the other semifinal at the clay-court tournament.
Simon served four double faults and was broken five times as he lost for the first time in three matches against Starace, who reached the semis for the second year in a row.
Simon was playing his first tournament since a neck injury last month forced him to retire from a quarterfinal match against Roger Federer at Key Biscayne, Florida.
Andujar advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 win over another Spaniard Pere Riba.
Andujar won 83 percent of the points on his first serve and broke his opponent five times to progress to his first semifinal on the ATP tour since losing in the final of the BCR Open Romania last September.
Andujar hit an ace on a second serve in the final game and closed out the match to love.
Hanescu rallied to beat qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia, 6-7 (1), 7-5, 6-2.