Newport, RI (Sports Network) - Fifth-seeded Frenchman Nicolas Mahut and countryman No. 4 Fabrice Santoro both advanced in Saturday's semifinal action at the $416,000 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
Mahut, who also reached the title match at the Artois Championships falling to four-time champion Andy Roddick this month, downed Dick Norman of Belgium 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2.
Facing Mahut will be countryman and fourth seed Santoro, who edged South Africa's Wesley Moodie 7-6 (7-2), 6-3. Moody had reached the semifinals after upsetting No. 2 Vincent Spadea on Friday.
Santoro, reaching his first final of the year, will meet Mahut for the first time. Santoro's last championship match appearance was in 2002 when he won in Dubai for his fourth career title.
Newport, RI (Sports Network) - Crafty Frenchman Fabrice Santoro highlighted Thursday's second-round winners at the $416,000 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
The fourth-seeded Santoro fought back to beat Canadian Frank Dancevic 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-4 on the grass courts at the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Up next for the veteran Santoro will be German Mischa Zverev.
Santoro's fellow Frenchman, fifth-seeded Nicolas Mahut, joined the charge into the quarterfinals by holding off his qualifier countryman Antony Dupuis 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 on Day 4 here. Mahut's round-of-eight opponent on Friday will be Indian qualifier Prakash Amritraj.
Other second-round results saw the aforementioned Zverev overcome Thai Danai Udomchoke 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) and Amritraj handle American wild card Scoville Jenkins 6-4, 6-3.
The other quarters will pit second-seeded American Vincent Spadea against South African Wesley Moodie and Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi versus Belgian Dick Norman. Spadea was a finalist here two years ago.
Newport, RI (Sports Network) - Fifth-seeded Frenchman Nicolas Mahut and countryman No. 4 Fabrice Santoro both advanced in Saturday's semifinal action at the $416,000 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
