Berdych, Simon reach Open Sud semis

Tomas Berdych finished off Nicolas Mahut of France with his 14th ace in a 6-3, 6-4 victory Friday to reach the semifinals of the Open Sud de France. The top-seeded Czech outplayed Mahut in the first set, hitting 18 winners and making only two unforced errors. Mahut fought back in the second but double-faulted to give the 2010 Wimbledon finalist a 4-3 lead. Second-seeded Gilles Simon also advanced by edging French wild card Guillaume Rufin 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-2. Simon won the all-French match when a backhand from Rufin sailed long. Rufin was let down by his serve in the final set, double-faulting five times and landing only 38 percent of his first attempts. Simon took the first-set tiebreaker on a forehand error from Rufin. Rufin hit two consecutive forehand winners to lead 6-2 in the second tiebreaker and leveled at one set apiece when Simon netted a backhand.