Chela, Andujar To Meet Re-Match Of 2010 Final; Mayer Faces Volandri

© BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy Florian Mayer is through to the Bucharest semi-finals for the second time.

Top seed and defending champion Juan Ignacio Chela battled his way into the semi-finals at the BDR Nastase Tiriac Trophy in Bucharest on Friday.

The Argentinean, who won both the singles and doubles title at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament last year, defeated seventh-seeded Italian Andreas Seppi 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 54 minutes. There were 10 breaks of serve - six for Chela and four for Seppi.

Chela will next look to record his 30th match win of the season against the player he beat in last year's final, Pablo Andujar, the fourth seed from Spain, on Saturday. Andujar saved nine of 10 break points to beat Italian qualifier Alessandro Giannessi 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 36 minutes.

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Earlier in the day, World No. 24 Florian Mayer required just 67 minutes on Friday to dismiss Albert Ramos 6-1, 6-2 to reach his fourth ATP World Tour semi-final of the season.

The German converted four of his 10 break point opportunities and won 79 per cent of points on his first serve to clinch his 36th victory of what has been a career-best season. The 27 year old reached his fourth ATP World Tour final in Munich, losing out to Nikolay Davydenko, and reached the semi-finals at Sydney (l. to Troicki) and Zagreb (l. to Berrer).

The second seed also reached the semi-finals in Bucharest on his debut at the ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tennis tournament in 2004 (l. to Andreev) and will look to reach the final for the first time when he faces Italy’s Filippo Volandri Saturday.

World No. 86 Volandri advanced to his second semi-final of the season as he crushed Brazil’s Joao Souza 6-2, 6-0 in 60 minutes, breaking serve seven times from 11 opportunities.

"This was my best day so far this week," said Volandri. "I played good already last week. This is my third semifinal here, I need points and this is one of the last weeks on clay. [Mayer] is a tough player who doesn't give you any rhythm."

The 30-year-old Volandri reached the Bucharest final in 2006, finishing runner-up to Jurgen Melzer; he also reached the semi-finals in 2004 (l. to Acasuso).