Ferrer sees off Robredo to reach Barcelona semi-final

Second seed David Ferrer came through his second tough battle in as many days to reach the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open with a 7-6 6-4 win over Spanish compatriot Tommy Robredo on Friday.

The world number five, pushed hard by Ecuadorian Nicolas Lapentti in the previous round, battled past the sixth seed in a match lasting two hours, five minutes.

He will play 14th seed Stanislas Wawrinka for a place in the final after the Swiss fought off the challenge of another Spaniard, Albert Montanes, 6-3 6-7 6-4.

Ferrer, who beat Robredo at the semi-final stage in Valencia last month, raced to a 3-0 lead but was pegged back by the 2004 Barcelona champion.

Robredo forced a tiebreak but a netted backhand allowed Ferrer to win it 7-4 and the second seed then battled back from an early break down to clinch another hard-earned win.

Wawrinka looked well set for victory over Montanes when he forced match point in the second-set tiebreak, but the Spanish world number 87 hit back to force a decider.

Montanes then fought back from 5-2 down in the third set to be back on serve at 5-4, only to then lose his serve again and give the Swiss victory after two hours, 46 minutes.

"I knew I had to be aggressive and go for my shots, because Montanes is a very good clay-court player," Wawrinka said.

"I could have closed it out in the second set but I was not worried because I was confident I could win it in the third set."

Later on Friday, top seed Rafael Nadal, bidding for his fourth consecutive Barcelona Open title, plays unseeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela in the quarter-finals.

Spanish 10th seed Nicolas Almagro and unseeded German Denis Gremelmayr meet in the remaining match