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Soderling crushes Monfils in Valencia

Robin Soderling dropped just five games as he brushed aside the challenge of Gael Monfils in Valencia.
Robin Soderling dropped just five games as he brushed aside the challenge of Gael Monfils in Valencia.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Second seed Robin Soderling reaches semifinals of the Valencia Open
  • The Swede sweeps aside eighth seed Gael Monfils of France 6-3 6-2
  • Holder Novak Djokovic faces fellow-Serb Viktor Troicki in semifinals of Swiss Indoor event
  • Fourth seed Andy Roddick and local favorite Roger Federer to meet in other semifinal
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(CNN) -- Sweden's Robin Soderling put on an impressive performance by crushing Gael Monfils of France to reach the semifinals of the Valencia Open on Friday.

Second seed and tournament favorite Soderling will now face fourth seed David Ferrer after easing to a 6-3 6-2 victory over the eighth-seeded Monfils.

Ferrer secured his place with a 7-5 6-4 victory over Italian Potito Starace in the final last eight clash.

Meanwhile, Frenchman Gilles Simon continued his impressive form this week as sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko became the latest big name to crash out.

Simon, who had already accounted for third seed Fernando Verdasco, won a gruelling battle 6-4 6-7 6-3 and will now take on Spain's Marcel Granollers for a place in the final.

Elsewhere, holder Novak Djokovic will face fellow-Serb Viktor Troicki in the semifinals of the Swiss Indoor event in Basel.

Second seed Djokovic, who beat local hero Roger Federer in last year's final, cruised past Dutchman Robin Hasse 6-2 6-3.

And Troicki secured his place in the last four with a 6-4 6-2 success over Frenchman Ricard Gasquet.

They will be joined in the semifinals by fourth seed Andy Roddick, who proved too strong for 2002 champion David Nalbandian of Argentina, going through 6-4 6-4.

Roddick now faces the mighty challenge of trying to prevent Federer reaching his fifth successive Basel final.

The top seed, who had won three in a row at his hometown tournament before last year's final defeat by Djokovic, took exactly an hour to see off Czech radel Stepanek 6-3 6-2.