Ancic shows form to reach last four

Croatian Mario Ancic is full of confidence as he heads into the Heineken Open semi-final in Auckland against Swiss youngster Stanislas Wawrinka.

World number 22 Ancic pulled off a surprise result in beating defending champion and top seed Fernando Gonzalez 6-0 6-3 in less than an hour.

“I think I was playing extremely well,” said Ancic. “I was really happy that I finished it off and didn’t give too many chances to such a high-quality player.”

Ancic broke the Chilean’s serve on three occasions to comfortably take the first set and when the fifth seed claimed the important service break in the fifth game of the second set the match was all but over.

Rising star Wawrinka, Roger Federer’s Davis Cup partner, had little trouble dispatching German Florian Mayer 6-3 6-4 in their quarter-final clash.

“I played very well and I served very well,” said Wawrinka.

“It is very good to win four matches and get into a semi-final.”

Tournament seventh seed Jarkko Nieminen will face Olivier Rochus in the other semi-final.

The Finn overcame a gallant effort from former world number nine Nicolas Massu to win 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in just over 90 minutes.

“I think it was a good quality match, we didn’t miss the easy shots and there were some good rallies,” said Nieminen. “I really had to work hard to win this match.”

Explosive Belgian Rochus had little trouble in dispatching Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2 6-0.