Sixth-seeded Tim Henman of Britain has battled past Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic to advance to the semifinals of the Amro tennis tournament in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Henman had his hands full Friday as he defeated Ulirach, 7-5, 6-3, to make it to the round of four for the third time in four years. The Briton will meet big-serving Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, who topped Ivo Heuberger of Switzerland, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Defending champion Nicolas Escude of France defeated seventh-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland in a repeat of last year's final. The unseeded Escude fought back from a one-set deficit to win, 3-6, 7-6, 7-5.

In the late match between two Frenchmen, fourth-seeded Sebastien Grosjean eliminated compatriot Arnaud Clement, 7-6, 6-3. Grosjean will battle Escude in the round of four.

In other tennis news, James Blake of the United States has upset top seed Tommy Haas of Germany to advance to the semi-finals of the Saint Jude Tennis Classic in Memphis, Tennessee.

Number-eight Blake took advantage of Haas' sore shoulder for an easy 6-3, 6-1 victory on Friday.

The other matches went as planned, with number-two Andy Roddick advancing along with number-three and fellow-American Jan-Michael Gambill, and number-four Xavier Malisse of Belgium.

Roddick defeated unseeded Sargis Sargsian of Armenia (6-3, 6-4). Gambill downed number-five Rainer Schuettler of Germany (6-3, 4-6, 7-6) with a 7-2 deciding tie-breaker. Malisse ousted unseeded American Todd Martin (7-6, 3-6, 7-5).

The women's final today (Saturday) will feature Americans Lisa Raymond, seeded second, against number-four Alexandra Stevenson. Both easily won their semi-finals.

Raymond beat number-three Ai Sugiyama of Japan (6-2, 6-1) on Friday while Stevenson downed unseeded Alina Jidkova of Russia (6-1, 6-2).

Meanwhile, Juan Ignacio Chela and Agustin Calleri of Argentina have advanced to the semi-finals of the Copa AT&T in Buenos Aires, along with Feliciano Lopez of Spain and Nicolas Massu of Chile.

The only seeded player to reach the quarterfinals, number-nine David Nalbandian of Argentina, was defeated Friday by Massu (7-6, 4-6, 7-6) in a 7-2 deciding-set tiebreaker.

Chela downed Franco Squillari (7-6, 4-6, 6-4), while Calleri got by Mariano Zabaleta (6-4, 4-6, 6-1) in matches featuring players from the host country.

Lopez beat Jose Acasuso of Argentina (6-3, 4-6, 7-5).

Some information for this report provided by AP.

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