Soderling stays on course

Rotterdam - Top seed Robin Soderling beat Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 7-6 in a reprise of last year's final to reach the last four of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament on Friday.

Defending champion Soderling will now meet unseeded Viktor Troicki of Croatia, a 7-5 6-2 winner over Marin Cilic, on Saturday.

Soderling, who hit 13 aces, finished off the first set with a break. When Russian Youzhny wasted a chance to take the second set, the Swede struck in the tie-break.

"It was a tough match but so far all my matches this tournament haven't been easy," Soderling told reporters. "Today I felt really strong on the big points and that gave me confidence."

Earlier, Ivan Ljubicic beat Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-4 6-7 7-6 to reach the semi-finals where he will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who had a day off as his opponent, Tomas Berdych, pulled out with influenza.