Sports
Fish Rolls On at Farmers Classic
The No. 1 seed reaches the semifinals with a straight-set win.
Beverly Hills resident Mardy Fish is making his neighborhood proud at the Farmers Classic, the ATP Tour being held at UCLA's Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Fish was awarded the No. 1 seed in the 28-player singles draw and is the only seed remaining in the tournament after two upsets Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals.
After his second straight tour title and seventh overall, Fish took care of eighth-seeded Igor Kunitysn of Russia, 6-2, 6-4, in the quarterfinals and will face 19-year-old Ryan Harrison of Louisiana in the semifinals Saturday afternoon.
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Harrison, now in the top 100 in the rankings, rallied past Yen-Hsun Lu of Taipei, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in their quarterfinal Friday. Lu upset Marcos Baghdatis, 6-3, 6-4, in the second round Wednesday.
The 29-year-old Fish is currently the highest-ranked American in the world standings at No. 9. His pro career titles came at Stockholm in 2003, Houston in 2006, Delray Beach in 2009, Newport and Atlanta in 2010, and Atlanta again last week.
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Saturday night's semifinal will match American Alex Bogomolov, Jr., against Ernests Gulbis of Latvia at Straus Stadium. Bogomolov beat fourth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, Friday while Gulbis upset second-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, 6-2, 6-4.
The semifinal winners meet for the championship at 2 p.m. Sunday at the L.A. Tennis Center's Straus Stadium.
2011 FARMERS CLASSIC
Friday's Results
SINGLES
Quarterfinals
(1) Mardy Fish (USA) d. (8) Igor Kunitsyn (RUS), 6-2, 6-4
Ryan Harrison (USA) d. Yen Hsun-Lu (TPE), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Alex Bogomolov Jr. (USA) d. (4) Thomaz Bullucci (BRA), 1-6, 6-4, 6-1
Ernests Gulbis (LAT) d. (2) Juan Martin del Potro (ARG), 6-2, 6-4
DOUBLES
Quarterfinals
(4) Jonathan Erlich (ISR) / Andy Ram (ISR) d. Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) / Michael Russell (USA), 6-1, 7-6 (4)
Somdev Devvarman (IND) / Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) d. Gilles Muller (LUX) / Jamie Murray (GBR), 6-2, 6-4