• ATP Tour

Tomic sees off Nieminen in Sydney

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Bernard Tomic's return to form continued as he battled back from a set down to beat Jarkko Nieminen in the quarter-finals of the Apia International in Sydney.

The Australian had a tough time in 2012, with a loss of form and off-court controversies threatening to derail his career. But he has returned with a spring in his step at the start of 2013 and the Australian was roared on to victory by a partisan crowd.

Tomic made a sticky start and was broken in the fourth game. He struggled to find his range but rallied to force a breaker. He had two set points, but he squandered the first with a double fault and then some fine net play from Nieminen, the defending champion, saved the second.

The Finn took advantage to close out the set but Tomic was much improved in the second and one break was enough to level the match.

The key moment of the contest came in the fourth game, as Nieminen wilted in the face of some fine play from Tomic. A wild forehand and slack volley from Nimenine hadned Tomic a break point and he converted, again thanks to his opponent who whipped a forehand into the net.

Tomic did not pass up the opening and closed out the match 6-7(6) 6-4 6-2 to set up a semi-final with Andreas Seppi who was a 6-4 7-5 winner over Marcel Granollers.

Kevin Anderson powered his way into the semi-finals in Sydney with a 6-4 6-3 win over Denis Istomin. The South African will meet Julien Benneteau in the last-four following his 6-4 6-2 victory over Ryan Harrison.

David Ferrer remains on course to claim a fourth Heineken Open title in Auckland after claiming a routine 6-2 6-1 victory over Lukas Lacko.

The Spaniard was on court for just 54 minutes, which was the ideal preparation for a semi-final clash with Gael Monfils who continued on his road back from injury with a 3-6 7-5 6-3 victory over Tommy Haas.

The No. 2 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber came through a test againsat Xavier Malisse, winning 7-6(6) 6-4, and he will meet Sam Querrey in the second semi-final following his win over Jesse Levine.

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