Fish knocked out

Third seed Mardy Fish was knocked out of the US Men's Clay Court quarter-finals in straight sets by eighth seed Oscar Hernandez on Friday.

Hernandez capitalised with four out of 10 break points as Fish struggled with his service, making just 42% of his first serves (36 out of 86) and four double faults in the 6-2 7-6 (7/5) loss.

It was more of the same for Fish, who has not won on the ATP Tour since capturing his second career championship at this US dollars 436,000 event in 2006.

The 26-year-old had been troubled by nagging wrist injuries during the past few years, but his recent play seemed to indicate that his title drought may be nearing an end.

Fish opened eyes last month when he reached the final at Indian Wells with victories over world number one Roger Federer, world number four Nikolay Davydenko and David Nalbandian, the world number seven.

Spaniard Hernandez, who is seeking his first career title, will play top seed James Blake in the semi-finals.

Blake cruised to a 6-4 6-3 victory over Augustin Calleri of Argentina in the last eight.

The 28-year-old Blake had little trouble, with seven aces and breaking his opponent on his only two chances.

The only seed remaining in the decimated bottom of the draw, Marcel Granollers-Pujol of Spain, survived by defeating Brazilian Marcos Daniel 6-3 6-2 in the quarter-finals.

He will now face unseeded American Wayne Odesnik, who followed his upset win of sixth seed Dudi Sela on Thursday with a 2-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-1 quarter-final triumph over Argentine Sergio Roitman.

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