• Abierto Mexicano Telcel

Monaco dumps Verdasco out in Mexico

Clay genius Juan Carlos Ferrero won his 13th straight match © Getty Images

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Juan Monaco has knocked top ten player Fernando Verdasco out of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel at the quarter-finals stage to join three big names in the final four.

The top four seeds featured in four different quarters and while two, three and four went through it was the top-seeded Verdasco who crashed out, 7-5 6-3 in an hour and three quarters. Monaco struck late with the first set's only break, but had to resist a Verdasco rally in a topsy-turvy second set to secure his passage to the semis.

Fourth-seed Juan Carlos Ferrero needed three sets to edge out Nicolas Almagro, ending the sixth-seed's attempt at winning this title for the third consecutive time, winning 6-1 7-5 6-2. That took Ferrero's winning streak to a lucky 13. The two Juans will meet in the semis.

Fernando Gonzalez and David Ferrer set up a blockbuster semi-final after coming through tough quarter-finals of their own.

Second-seed Gonzalez came from a set down to beat Argentine Eduardo Schwank 3-6 6-3 7-5 in over two hours. Schwank created a glut of break-point opportunities in the second and third sets but he could not convert and paid the price, the 12th-ranked Chilean closing it out.

Ferrer got past Pablo Cuevas 7-5 6-4 to keep the chance of an all-Spain final with Ferrero alive.

Meanwhile in the women's draw, Venus Williams survived a scare to overcome Laura Pous Tio 4-6 6-3 7-5 in two hours, 19 minutes. Tio made huge inroads into Wiliams' normally dominating serve, breaking the American five times including twice in the decisive set.

The mark of a champion is to win even you are not at your best, and that was the case with Williams as she simply outlasted and out-experienced the 399th-ranked Spaniard who has never won a WTA title.

Third-seed Gisela Dulko fought back in the second set but could not do enough to get past Carla Suarez Navarro, who broke her opponent six times in her 6-1 7-6 triumph.

Second-seed Agnes Szavay retired while down 6-4 0-1 in her quarter-final with Polona Hercog, while Edina Gallovits beat Sharon Fichman 7-5 6-2 in the other match.

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