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Llodra serves up an upset in Marseille

Michael Llodra is through to the semi-finals in Marseille for the second year running © Getty Images

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Michael Llodra served 15 aces as he stunned top seed Robin Soderling 7-6(2) 6-4 to move through to the Open 13 semi-finals in Marseille.

In a tense opening set, neither man was able to break the other's serve and Llodra came out on top after the decisive tie-break. He was then able to secure a crucial break of serve early in the second to take a 2-0 lead, from which Soderling was unable to recover.

World No. 8 Soderling was favourite to pick up back-to-back titles after his triumph in Rotterdam last week, but Llodra was high on confidence after beating seventh seed Marcos Baghdatis in the second round and took his chances in front of a partisan French crowd.

The pair have not met since Llodra beat Soderling to claim the Rotterdam title two years ago, and Soderling, despite being ranked 79 places above the Frenchman, has never beaten Llodra.

"I have great sensations," said Llodra, who lost in last year's final to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. "I knew it would be difficult to return his serve, but I waited for the good opportunity and I was able to keep my nerves under control."

Llodra will now play Germany's Mischa Zverev, after he beat French wildcard Guillaume Rufin in a three-set thriller. Zverev had to overcome some of the gutsiest tennis seen in the tournament, with Rufin managing to save 12 break points over the course of his 7-5 6-7 6-3 loss.

Gael Monfils continued his poor record in the tournament after being knocked out by fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau. The third seed, who lost in the first round during each of his previous four visits to Marseille, went down 3-6 5-7.

Although Monfils' first serve was firing, producing 14 aces, his disappointing second serve allowed his opponent to claim 73% of the points on offer. It was only the second time that Benneteau had claimed a win against the world No. 13 in six attempts.

Benneteau will now face another Frenchman in the semi-finals after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga completed a routine victory over Ukrainian Illya Marchenko. Tsonga dropped his serve just once in a 6-3 6-4 victory that took a little over one and a half hours.

The Frenchman actually made things a lot more difficult than necessary for himself on Friday, wasting a host of break opportunities as he converted just three of 11 chances. Tsonga was also surprisingly poor behind his second serve, winning nine of 23 points.

Even when serving for the match at 40-0, Tsonga allowed the spirited Marchenko to fight back to deuce, but he eventually closed out the contest.

Meanwhile, Andy Roddick is still yet to find his best form this season after crashing out of the Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis, USA at the quarter-final stage 7-5 6-3 6-1 to Sam Querrey.

Up-and-comer Querrey had given Roddick nightmares when the two met this month in San Jose, with Roddick winning on that occasion 2-6 7-6 7-6 despite never breaking Querrey. This time the fightback didn't become a comeback, with big-serving Querrey capitalising on a Roddick double fault to break early in the third and hold on for the win.

It could have been a matter of apprentice usurping the master, given 22-year-old Querrey has now beaten top-ten opposition seven times and Roddick twice in the past six months on his way the fringes of the top 20. It's the big Californian's first appearance in a semi-final on the ATP Tour.

"It was disappointing," said Roddick. "I felt like it was the opposite of Sam's and my match of last week (San Jose). I felt like I had the better end of the first two sets and [yet] we were even. I felt like I was hitting the ball a little better, giving myself more chances in return games. Today I played one sloppy game in the third set and that was it. Sometimes at this level there's not much in between it."

Querrey will meet another young upstart, Latvian Ernests Gulbis, who produced an upset of his own to top Tomas Berdych 3-6 6-3 7-6. Fifth-seed Berdych led 4-1 in the final set before Gulbis launched an all-or-nothing assault, which on this occasion pulled him back into the match and into the second semi-final of his career.

The other semi-final will not carry much more experience, with its two combatants holding just two career titles between them. In-form John Isner pleased the home fans with a 6-1 7-6 triumph over Ivo Karlovic, despite the Croatian's 12 aces in the second set.

Isner will meet Philipp Petzschner, who at 25 is the oldest player left in the tournament. The German took out Lukas Lacko 6-1 1-6 6-1 in a decidedly topsy-turvy quarter-final. The two had met only once previously, with Petzschner also requiring three sets to come out on top in Croatia earlier this year.

Elsewhere, Brasil Open winner Juan Carlos Ferrero continued his fine run of form with a 6-3 3-6 6-2 victory over fellow Spaniard Santiago Ventura in the only Copa Telmex action on Friday.

Buenos Aires turned on the rain to delay the other quarters, so Ferrero will have to wait to find out whether it will be Horacio Zeballos or fourth seed Juan Monaco in his way as he goes for back-to-back titles.

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