Swedish top seed Robin Soderling survived his first real test at the Stockholm Open on Friday, beating Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the quarter-finals 7-6 6-4.
The World No 10, the overwhelming favourite to win the tournament following the exit of all the other seeds, next faces 2006 Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who beat Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-4 6-4.
Soderling, who is chasing a spot in the season-ending Masters Cup in London, squandered a 5-2 lead in the opening set and eventually clinched it in the tiebreak against Garcia-Lopez.
He broke the Spaniard's opening service game in the second set but had to work all the way to win the match that featured some superb rallies.
Serving at 5-4, Soderling had to fight off a break point on the way to his first match point, which Garcia-Lopez saved with a stunning backhand passing shot.
Soderling prevailed on his second match point, however, with a serve that the World No 49 could not get back over the net.
"He actually played really well," Soderling said in an on-court interview. "He's a lot better than his ranking shows.
"He's capable of resisting and he's got good length (in his shots) and he really has no real weaknesses. It was definitely a good test," said the Swede, who had dropped just seven games during his first two matches in Stockholm.
Earlier, Soderling's compatriot Joachim Johansson, the former World No 9 who had entered the event as a wildcard, lost in straight sets to Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.
In the semi-finals Bellucci faces Belgian Olivier Rochus, who beat Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in three sets.
