Stockholm: Top-seeded Gael Monfils beat South Africa's Kevin Anderson 7-5, 7-5 on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Stockholm Open.
The 10th-ranked Frenchman made heavy weather of the win, though, allowing his fifth-seeded opponent to break service twice to draw level after racing into a 5-1 lead in the second set.
Monfils will now play the sixth-seeded Milos Raonic for a place in the final after the big-serving Canadian hit 14 aces in a 7-5, 6-4 win over Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov.
Earlier, Finland's Jarkko Nieminen beat Tobias Kamke of Germany 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 after rallying from break point down in the second set to win.
The Finn received plenty of support from the crowd at the Royal Tennis Hall as the only Nordic player left in the tournament after Sweden's Michael Ryderstedt was eliminated in the first round.
Nieminen will now face James Blake of the United States. Blake went through by default after his quarterfinal opponent David Nalbandian withdrew with an injury.
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