Verdasco reaches Estoril semis as rain returns

Apr 30, 2011, 13:37 GMT

Estoril, Portugal - Spain's Fernando Verdasco beat approaching rain to reach his first semi-final since February, with the second seed Saturday completing a match delayed overnight by bad weather at the Estoril Open.

The number 15 who only dropped from his longtime the Top 10 ranking in recent days, defeated seventh seed Kevin Anderson 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-3 after the South African had won their opening set before darkness and rain halted play on Friday night.

Verdasco is fighting to regain form on clay after coming to Portugal for his first tournament appearance in eight years following opening-match defeats in four of his previous five matches.

Verdasco played the San Jose semi-final two months ago before going into his mini-slump.

The Spaniard won through in demanding conditions on Saturday as poor weather continued, finishing up his quarter-final win as more rain came down.

His potential opponents were caught out by the weather for a second time after being halted Friday night.

French fourth seed Gilles Simon was level with Milos Raonic of Canada 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 1-1 when more rain sent them off court. Simon led overnight 6-5 before Raonic won the opener in a tiebreaker and came from two breaks down in the second set before stumbling.

The other semi-finalists, eighth seed Juan Del Potro and Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, were still waiting to play for a spot in the final at the ill-starred event.

The women's final also remained incomplete due to the weather which replaced perfect sunshine which was in place for most of the clay-court week. Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues led German Kristina Barrois 6-1, 3-2 in the unseeded Saturday final at the Estadio Nacionale.

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