Feb 3, 2007 5 min read

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Local favorite Vince Spadea upset defending champion Tommy Haas 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships on Friday. The win over the ninth-ranked Haas was Spade’s first victory against a top 10 player in nearly three years. Spadea last beat a top 10 player in 2004, when he upset Germany’s Rainer Schuettler in the third round at Wimbledon.

Since then, the 63rd-ranked Spadea had lost 11 straight against players ranked in the top 10.

“I had to earn everything I got out there,” Spadea said. “I stayed composed even though he played great tennis in the second set. I keep proving to myself that I can do things I used to not be able to do.”

Spadea, from nearby Boca Raton, has reached the Delray Beach semifinals for four consecutive years.

Spadea owned the first set, but the second-seeded Haas looked strong in the second set, breaking serve in the fourth and eighth games.

But Spadea kept control of his emotions and worked his way to victory in the final set.

Massu, Horna reach semifinals in Chile

VINA DEL MAR, Chile – Third-seeded Nicolas Massu of Chile made a strong rally and reached the semifinals of Movistar Open when Sergio Roitman of Argentina withdrew after two sets because of an injured right leg.

Roitman trounced Massu 6-0 in the first set and appeared headed to an easy victory with a 5-2 advantage in the second set. But Massu came back to tie it, saving seven set points, while Roitman was slowed by muscle pain.

Roitman was aided by a trainer for several minutes before returning to the court, and Massu won 7-6 (3). After the tiebreak, Roitman left limping.

“I won although I played even worse than in recent days when I had already played pretty bad,” Massu said.

Massu will next play the winner of the match between top-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile and No. 7 Albert Montanes of Spain.

Sharapova, Hingis advance at Pan Pacific

TOKYO – Maria Sharapova advanced to the Pan Pacific Open semifinals, rallying after losing the first set to beat crowd favorite Ai Sugiyama 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.

Sugiyama broke Sharapova’s serve to win the first set but was overwhelmed by the No. 1 seed in the final two sets.

“It’s never easy against Sugiyama,” Sharapova said. “She had the crowd behind her and was able to take the first set, but I’m glad I was able to come back and win.”

Sharapova will face fifth-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in Saturday’s semifinals. Ivanovic defeated fourth-seeded compatriot Jelena Jankovic 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Martina Hingis, seeded second, coasted to a 6-0, 6-1 win over Australia’s Samantha Stosur to advance to the semifinals.

“It’s no coincidence that I play well here,” said Hingis, who has won here four times. “The surface suits me and everyone treats me so well here in Japan so that I’m able to relax.”

Hingis will next face defending champion Elena Dementieva of Russia, who downed Italy’s Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-2.

As in Thursday’s match against Francesca Schiavone, Sharapova struggled with her serve, conceding 14 double-faults and hitting just one ace.

Once again, her coach Michael Joyce had some advice between sets.

“She was playing aggressively in the first set and I wasn’t making my shots,” Sharapova said. “Michael told me to move it around and play more aggressively, and I started making my shots and gave her less time to do what she wanted to do.”

In their only previous meeting, Sharapova beat Sugiyama in the 2004 Wimbledon quarterfinals.

Sharapova said she didn’t let her serving problems get the better of her.

“I worried about the serve a little too much in the first set,” Sharapova said. “There are going to be days when your serve isn’t working and when that happens you just have to concentrate on the things that are going well.”

Ljubicic advances to Zagreb Open semifinals

ZAGREB, Croatia – Defending champion Ivan Ljubicic defeated Thomas Johansson of Sweden 7-6 (8), 6-7 (8), 7-6 (4) Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Zagreb Open.

Ljubicic served 28 aces but hampered himself with careless shots from the baseline and at the net. The Croat rallied from 4-1 down in the first tiebreaker, then staved off four set points in the second tiebreaker before losing.

The top seed broke in the opening game of the third set. Johansson struck right back and forced a final tiebreaker, which Ljubicic won after taking a 3-0 lead.

Ljubicic faces fourth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny in the semifinal after the Russian defeated Marc Gicquel of France 7-5, 6-2.

Youzhny struggled to take control until the 12th game of the first set and then never relinquished control with fine serving and a series of winners.

Second-seeded Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus was stretched to a third set before defeating Arnaud Clemente of France 6-2, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).

Baghdatis, a finalist at the Australian Open in 2006, stumbled after leading 5-0 in the tiebreak of the final set, but regained composure to secure a semifinal berth against Alexander Peya of Austria.

Peya beat Michael Llodra of France 6-3, 6-3. Peya had to qualify for the main draw and had previously never made it to an ATP quarterfinal.