BASTAD, Sweden — Second-seeded Robin Soderling defeated Nicolas Almagro, 7-5, 6-3, yesterday to reach the semifinals at the Swedish Open.

Defending champion Tommy Robredo, seeded third in the clay-court tournament, Juan Monaco and wild-card entry Andreas Vinciguerra also advanced.

It was Soderling's second win over Almagro in less than a month. He also won a third-round match at Wimbledon.

"I played well today," said Soderling, this year's surprise French Open finalist. "I hit the ball well. Maybe I didn't move at 100 percent. Almagro is an excellent clay-court player and I beat him in two straight (sets), so that is very good for my confidence.

Soderling will play Vinciguerra, who rallied past fourth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The third-seeded Robredo beat Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-4, 6-0, and is 23-6 in the tournament.

He will play Monaco, who advanced when top-seeded Fernando Verdasco retired with a right calf injury trailing 6-1, 3-1.

ELSEWHERE

Mercedes Cup: Italy's Fabio Fognini upset second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5, yesterday at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, Germany, to reach his first semifinal in a nearly a year.

Fognini will play fourth-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania, who beat Alexandre Sidorenko of France, 7-6 (2), 6-4. Hanescu is the only seeded player left in the field. Rain forced organizers to postpone the other two quarterfinals until today.

Nicolas Kiefer of Germany was slated to play Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Jeremy Chardy of France was to meet Mischa Zverev of Germany.

Palermo Open: Top-seeded Flavia Pennetta, making her 10th bid to win the Palermo Open, beat seventh-seeded Aravane Rezai, 6-4, 6-4, yesterday in the quarterfinals at Palermo, Sicily.

Defending champion and fifth-seeded Sara Errani beat Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-2, 7-5, and Tathiana Garbin routed Olga Govortsova, 6-2, 6-1.

Anna-Lena Groenefeld reached the final four when second-seeded Patty Schnyder, a former Palermo champion, retired with a left hip flexor strain while trailing 4-3.

Prague Open: Top-seeded Francesca Schiavone routed Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-1, 6-1, yesterday to advance to the semifinals of the Prague Open in Prague.

The 30th-ranked Schiavone, who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon last month, will face Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, who upset fourth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-4, 6-4.

All three top-seeded players advanced to today's semifinals.

Second-seeded Sybille Bammer beat seventh-seeded Lucie Hradecka, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5, and faces third-seeded Iveta Benesova, who beat Zarina Diyas, 6-4, 6-1.

SHORT LOBS

Clijsters coming back: Kim Clijsters, married and a mom these days, will end a two-year retirement next week, making her World Team Tennis Pro League debut with the St. Louis Aces at home on Tuesday.

The 2005 U.S. Open champion is preparing for the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 31. These events will help the 26-year-old Belgian decide whether to rejoin the tour next season.

Roddick out with injured hip: Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick has withdrawn from the Indianapolis Tennis Championships next week, citing a right hip flexor injury. It's the same injury that prompted Roddick to pull out of the U.S. Davis Cup team's quarterfinal at Croatia last week.

Tournament director Kevin Martin says he's working to secure a commitment from James Blake, who's ranked No. 17 in the world, to take the final wild card before the draw is released.