Verdasco, Raonic reach semis in rainy Estoril

Apr 30, 2011, 16:43 GMT

Estoril, Portugal - Spain's Fernando Verdasco and Canadian Milos Raonic slogged through poor weather to set up a semi-final in delayed matches at the Estoril Open Saturday.

But the day's first semi-final between eighth seed Juan Del Potro and good friend Pablo Cuevas - both of whom won on Friday - was interrupted by rain after 26 minute on court, with Del Potro leading 4-2.

The women's final at the joint ATP-WTA event was completed after a rain interruption, with Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues defeating German Kristina Barrois 6-1, 6-2.

Medina Garrigues pulled level with Venus Williams on nine career clay titles, the most among active players, with the Spaniard improving to 10-6 in overall finals.

Verdasco, seeded second and playing Estoril for the first time in eight years, had to come back after starting on Friday to earn his win as he beat seventh seed Kevin Anderson 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-3.

The South African had won their opening set before darkness and rain halted play on Friday night.

It took surviving another rain interruption and a comeback after losing the first set to send number 15 Verdasco through as he battles to return to the ATP top 10.

Number five Raonic needed two days to go past Frenchman Gilles Simon 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3, with the fourth seed saving two match points in the closing stages.

Raonic, ranked 27th, has now beaten nine top 30 opponents in his breakthrough year. He won with seven aces and five service breaks over two and a half hours on court.

On Saturday, Raonic finished off the first set in a tiebreaker and almost came back from two breaks down in the second set, which Simon won to level.

The Canadian took a 4-2 lead in the final set, but had to battle as Simon put up a fight until the end as Raonic advanced on his third opportunity into the final four.

The youngster has improved steadily in the his three first-ever career weeks on ATP clay, reaching third rounds in Monte Carlo and Barcelona before his semi-final in Portugal.

Verdasco lost the San Jose final to Raonic two months ago and was beaten a week later by the 20-year-old Canadian in the Memphis first round.

Read more about Portugal

Read more about Tennis ATP

Read more about WTA