Robredo in Polish Open semi-finals

　　By Piotr Bujnicki

　　SOPOT, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Second seed Tommy Robredo battled to a 5-7 6-4 6-1 quarter-final victory over Austrian Stefan Koubek at the Polish Open on Friday.

　　The Spanish claycourt specialist, who faces Gilles Simon of France in Saturday's semi-finals, had to fight hard to win a tough match lasting over two hours.

　　The left-handed Austrian stunned Robredo by taking the first set but the Spaniard, a winner here in 2001, levelled the match after being 3-0 down and breezed through the third set.

　　"At 3-0 I was just trying to come back and when we received new balls I started to play more aggressively and it worked," said the 25-year-old Robredo.

　　His next opponent Simon, ranked 49 in the world, beat Igor Andreev 6-4 7-5 in a match between two unseeded players.

　　The Russian, who beat American Andy Roddick in the first round of the French Open this year, proved to be a tough opponent who played very well from the baseline.

　　The second set was interrupted by rain which seemed to help Simon overwhelm his opponent.

　　"Even though it was hard to finish it, I played a great match," the 23-year-old Simon told reporters. "I knew I had to hit the ball very aggressively because Andreev has one of the strongest forehands in the world."

　　By Piotr Bujnicki

　　SOPOT, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Second seed Tommy Robredo battled to a 5-7 6-4 6-1 quarter-final victory over Austrian Stefan Koubek at the Polish Open on Friday.

　　The Spanish claycourt specialist, who faces Gilles Simon of France in Saturday's semi-finals, had to fight hard to win a tough match lasting over two hours.

　　The left-handed Austrian stunned Robredo by taking the first set but the Spaniard, a winner here in 2001, levelled the match after being 3-0 down and breezed through the third set.

　　"At 3-0 I was just trying to come back and when we received new balls I started to play more aggressively and it worked," said the 25-year-old Robredo.

　　His next opponent Simon, ranked 49 in the world, beat Igor Andreev 6-4 7-5 in a match between two unseeded players.

　　The Russian, who beat American Andy Roddick in the first round of the French Open this year, proved to be a tough opponent who played very well from the baseline.

　　The second set was interrupted by rain which seemed to help Simon overwhelm his opponent.

　　"Even though it was hard to finish it, I played a great match," the 23-year-old Simon told reporters. "I knew I had to hit the ball very aggressively because Andreev has one of the strongest forehands in the world."