Wawrinka Beats Garcia-Lopez in Casablanca Quarters
CASABLANCA : Top-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland cruised past Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-1, 6-2 on Friday to move into the semifinals of the Grand Prix Hassan II.
The 2010 champion will next play Tommy Robredo of Spain, who beat Benoit Paire of France 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-0.
Second-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa also advanced to the last four by defeating Grega Zemlja of Slovenia 6-4, 6-4. He will face Martin Klizan of Slovakia or Robin Haase of the Netherlands.
Wawrinka won seven straight games to win the first set and take a 2-0 lead in the second.
The Swiss broke serve twice in each set and saved the only break point he faced with a forehand winner while serving for the match. He clinched the victory when Garcia-Lopez sent a forehand wide.
In the first quarterfinal, Robredo saved two set points to force a tiebreaker and took the first set when Paire netted a backhand.
The fourth-seeded Paire jumped to a 5-1 lead in the next set and won it with a backhand drop shot.
Paire wasted two break points in the opening game of the third set, and Robredo dominated the rest of the way.
The Spanish veteran, who reached the final in Casablanca 12 years ago, converted his first match point when Paire netted an overhead.
Anderson broke Zemlja s serve in the fifth game before saving four break points at 4-3 to grab the first set. The South African capitalized on Zemlja s inconsistent serve to break his opponent twice in the final set.
