Defending champion Mardy Fish moved into the semi-finals of the Delray Beach International Championships with a 6-4 6-3 win over fourth seed Jeremy Chardy.
Fish took 66 minutes to secure the straight sets win and will now meet big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic in the last four.
Karlovic, the second seed, beat veteran James Blake 6-3 6-7 (7/5) 6-1 and admitted afterwards an early break in the deciding set had been crucial in a contest that had been tightly-fought until then.
"When I broke him at the beginning of the third set that was really a turning point because after that I knew I was in a good position and I just had to continue with my serve," said Karlovic, who fired down 23 aces compared to just two from his opponent.
"Of course you always want more, but already it's a very good week but hopefully I'm going to continue."
Jarkko Nieminen advanced to his first semi-final since January 2009 with an upset win over third seed Benjamin Becker 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7/5).
The world number 109 had already knocked out fifth seed Evgeny Korolev in the second round and will play Latvian Ernests Gulbis in the last four after he beat Leonardo Mayer 7-6 (7/2) 6-4.
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