Second-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa beat eighth-seeded Borna Coric of Croatia 6-2 7-6 (7-1) on Thursday night to advance to the semi-finals of the ATP Tour's Winston-Salem Open.
Anderson, ranked 15th, will face sixth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil or Malek Jaziri of Tunisia at the Wake Forest Tennis Center.
Anderson served just 10 aces Thursday in improving to 6-0 this season in quarter-final matches, but he broke the 18-year-old Coric's serve twice and converted 85 per cent of his first serves in winning the first set.
"I really played well today, especially in that first set," Anderson said.
"It was one of those sets where everything was coming off my racquet nicely, I was taking care of my service games and putting myself in each return game. When I'm able to do that, I play my best and make it as tough as possible for my opponent."
Earlier, Steve Johnson advanced when Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu withdrew because of a back injury.
Lu was hurt late in the third set on Wednesday in his 7-6 (7-1) 1-6 7-5 victory over South Korea's Hyeon Chung. He was treated after the match and Thursday morning, but the pain and cramping persisted during practice.
"There's a disc that had some inflammation inside, and the inflammation got into the muscle and got it tight," Lu said. "It was really affecting my serve. We're all looking forward to next week, but I'm still upset.
"We did everything we could with the ATP (trainers). There's still some soreness, and I really couldn't do anything natural. It really didn't make sense to go on the court and play. It's not smart."
Johnson is seeded 13th and the lone American remaining in the US Open tuneup event.
He will play qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France, a 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 winner over Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain. Herbert, ranked 140th, reached his first career semi-final.
Johnson reached his third career semi-final and second this season. The two-time NCAA champion at South California made his last semi-final appearance three weeks ago in Washington.
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