Soederling knocks out Gasquet in Marseille

MARSEILLE, France, Feb 17 (Reuters) Unseeded Swede Robin Soederling reached the Marseille Open semi-finals by outgunning local favourite Richard Gasquet 6-1 7-6.

Big-serving Soederling next meets unseeded Frenchman Gilles Simon, who defeated Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden 7-6 6-2.

Soederling, who beat top seed Nikolay Davydenko in the first round, claimed the first set in 30 minutes yesterday before clinching victory over sixth seed Gasquet by taking the tiebreak 7-4.

''I was worn out,'' Gasquet told reporters.

''Before the match I did not have much hope,'' added the Frenchman, who helped his country beat Belgium 4-1 in the Davis Cup last weekend.

Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus also went through with a 2-6 7-6 7-5 victory over Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

Seventh seed Baghdatis, who reached the 2006 Australian Open final, dropped the first set after world number 22 Youzhny broke serve in the sixth and eighth games.

Baghdatis took the second-set tiebreak 9-7 before breaking twice in the final set.

He next faces unseeded Finn Jarkko Nieminen, who overcame Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-2 1-6 6-3.

Reuters SAM DB0941