Ferrer keeps Auckland success going, advances to semifinals

SYDNEY (AP) Four-time champion David Ferrer will play Jack Sock in the semifinals of Auckland's ASB Classic after beating Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-4 in a quarterfinal Thursday.

The top-seeded Ferrer was appearing in the quarterfinals for the 10th time in 11 Auckland tournaments, and reached the semifinals for the sixth time.

Earlier, the 26th-ranked Sock upset fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, and established a new post-match ritual by removing one sock and handing it to a fan.

''We were talking about it in the warm-up today,'' Sock said. ''Jo (Wilfried Tsonga) has got his thing and a few players have their thing and with such a unique last name that I have we figured I might start a new tradition and give a sock away if I win.''

Second-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced to the semifinals on his first visit to Auckland, but only after a difficult struggle with No. 6-seeded Fabio Fognini. Tsonga won 7-5, 7-6 (4) in a match which turned on single points in the late stages of both sets.

The 10th-ranked Tsonga will next play eighth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut, who beat two-time champion John Isner 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

Isner, who served 31 aces in his win over compatriot Sam Querrey on Wednesday, served 17 on Thursday. But Bautista Agut managed to find the means to cope with Isner's powerful serve.

Rain interrupted play at both the Hobart International and the Sydney International, where Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine won the first set 6-4 over Grigor Dimitrov before rain stopped play. The showers cleared in Sydney later in the day, allowing play to continue, and Dimitrov won the second set 6-3 to send it to a decider which was again interrupted by rain with Dimitrov leading 4-2.

At Hobart, Mona Barthel withdrew from her scheduled quarterfinal against Alize Cornet with a back injury, handing Cornet a walkover. Barthel sought treatment early in the first set of her win over Naomi Osaka on Wednesday.

In the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament in Melbourne, Nicolas Almagro beat Hyeon Chung of South Korea 6-2, 6-2 and 2006 Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (3), 6-3.