Rusedski sees off Verkerk

Rusedski faces Tommy Haas in the semi-finals

Greg Rusedski followed up his victory over Lleyton Hewitt by beating Martin Verkerk 6-4 7-6 to reach the semi-finals of the RCA Championship in Indianapolis.

The 14th-seeded Briton will now play third seed Tommy Haas, who edged past France's Sebastien Grosjean 6-3 3-6 6-3.

Rusedski got the better of a tight first set, breaking Verkerk in the ninth game with a lob which had the Dutchman scrambling to make a return that landed wide.

The difference today was that my returning was a little bit better than his

Greg Rusedski

Verkerk saved break points in the first and seventh games of the second set and Rusedski survived a set point before winning the tie-break 7-4.

"I was pleased the way I played the big points," said Rusedski.

"He was serving his second serve as hard as he could on break points and making a lot of good shots.

"But I think the difference today was that my returning was a little bit better than his.

"I wish I could have got that break early in the second set to make life a little bit easier, and in a tiebreaker with two big servers anything could happen.

"It was very nice to follow up last night with another win."

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Haas made light of a shoulder problem as he hit 10 aces against Grosjean in a match that see-sawed throughout.

But the German gained the upper hand in the third set as he broke twice to lead 5-1.

He failed to serve out at the first attempt but came through on his next service game to reach his second semi-final in three weeks.

Rainer Schuettler suffered a scare against lucky loser Arnaud Di Pasquale of France before bouncing back to win 2-6 6-4 6-1.

Di Pasquale, who was given a place in the main draw when Marat Safin withdrew with a viral infection, romped through the final four games of the opening set.

In the second set Schuettler built a 4-1 lead, only for Di Pasquale to fight back to 5-4 before the ninth seed secured the set.

Schuettler ran away with it in the decider, losing only the fourth game to wrap up victory in just under two hours.

The German will now play Spaniard Felix Mantilla, who came back from a set and a break down to beat French 15th seed Arnaud Clement 1-6 6-4 6-4.

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RCA Championship quarter-final results

Greg Rusedski (GB, 14) bt Martin Verkerk (Neth) 6-4 7-6
Tommy Haas (Ger, 3) bt Sebastien Grosjean (Fra, 6) 6-3 3-6 6-3
Rainer Schuettler (Ger, 9) bt Arnaud Di Pasquale (Fra) 2-6 6-4 6-1
Felix Mantilla (Spa) bt Arnaud Clement (Fra, 15) 1-6 6-4 6-4